Class Actions & Multi-District Litigation

Technical & Substantive Experience

V&E handles all aspects of class actions, mass actions, and multi-district litigation, from filing through trial and appeal. When civil litigation proceeds alongside a parallel government inquiry or investigation, our class-action and MDL team works hand-in-hand with our white collar practice to coordinate the defense of potential civil and criminal liability. In recent years, our lawyers have performed these roles with great success in many substantive areas, including antitrust, securities, toxic torts, and products liability.

Class certification is often the bet-the-company stage of a bet-the-company case. Through broad experience, our lawyers have gained a deep appreciation of the intricacies of class certification under both state and federal law. Most importantly, though, our lawyers know how to develop the facts unique to a case and how to marshal those unique facts to oppose class certification in a particular court. We know, for example, how to find and use economic data and analysis to combat a fraud-on-the-market theory in a securities class action or a presumption of antitrust injury in a price-fixing MDL.  We have experience developing the unique facts of a particular market or industry to show the claims of putative class members are so different that a class cannot be certified.

We also understand the day-to-day of complex litigation, such as how to work with—and lead—a large joint-defense group to coordinate the defense of a complex, multi-year, multi-defendant class action or MDL. We know how to spread the labor as required to achieve results and manage costs. Just as importantly, we know how to do so without losing our ability to advocate our clients’ individual interests when necessary. The same is true when a lone defendant faces simultaneous litigation of a single issue in several courts scattered around the country: we know how to pursue favorable results efficiently. As national coordinating counsel engaged to supervise many similar cases pending in state and federal courts around the country, we have helped manufacturers, retailers, and others minimize duplication of effort and ensure that the local lawyers trying individual cases for our clients in their local courts have and use the shared knowledge of a well-coordinated, nationwide defense.

Partnering with Our Clients

Class actions often pose huge financial risks—frequently, the greatest our clients will ever face. They can also threaten the mergers, acquisitions, and innovations that propel businesses into new markets and new eras.  We understand these perils.  So, we work closely with our clients to draft practical case strategies to meet client objectives both inside and outside the courtroom, concentrating not only on the immediate outcome of a particular motion or trial, but also on protecting our clients’ reputations and controlling collateral consequences in business transactions, in other litigation, and in regulatory matters. We never lose sight of the ball—our clients’ long-term goals.  In short, we are courtroom lawyers who litigate class actions with both power and finesse, always mindful of managing potential exposure in ways best calculated to achieve clients’ overall business objectives.