PHILADELPHIA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2016

GENERAL LITIGATION (LARGE FIRMS) LABOR & EMPLOYMENT Winner: Cozen O’Connor Winner: Morgan Lewis & Bockius

GENERAL LITIGATION (MIDSIZE FIRMS) MEDICAL MALPRACTICE Winner: Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young Winner: Kline & Specter

GENERAL LITIGATION (SMALL FIRMS) GENERAL EXCELLENCE Winner: Meyer, Unkovic & Scott Winner: Ellucian

APPELLATE AND PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY IN-HOUSE LEGAL WORK Winner: Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Winner: Penn National Gaming, Inc. Goggin

CLASS ACTION AND PRODUCTS LIABILITY CORPORATE COMPLIANCE Winner: Pepper Hamilton Winner: JLT

INSURANCE OUTSIDE COUNSEL MANAGEMENT Winner: White and Williams Winner: Axalta Coating Systems

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PRO BONO/COMMUNITY SERVICE Winner: Dechert Winner: MSA-The Safety Company

GC IMPACT WINNERS Cristina Cavalieri, Jefferson Health Caroline Henrich, Henkels & McCoy Jeffrey Kahn, CHOP Photo by Nanette Kardaszeski

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young’s litigation group.

MAKING THE MOST OF MIDSIZE STRADLEY RONON TAKES ‘LEAN AND MEAN’ APPROACH

BY LIZZY MCLELLAN Of the Legal Staff

hen a litigation team from litigation teams are often have spent their entire ca- client’s interest so you can be an asset 2016 Stradley, Ronon, Stevens & up against opponents reers at Stradley Ronon. in determining what’s important to the Young enters a courtroom, with twice as many law- PA LITIGATION “It gives the client con- client,’” he said. W it’s usually outnumbered yers. But O’Mara re- DEPARTMENTS sistency. They can count But sometimes, they have to learn the by the attorneys on the other side. But called an instance when OF THE YEAR on having the same law- client’s needs quickly. the Stradley Ronon lawyers like it that the firm’s three-attorney WINNER yers year after year,” Sasso In another recent case, a Stradley way. team, in arbitration, went said. Ronon litigation team was able to “The way that we staff matters is up against a group of at MIDSIZE FIRMS O’Mara said when liti- jump in with little time before trial unique relative to the firms that we’re least seven lawyers from gators do leave the firm, and secure a defense victory. Chartis up against,” Michael O’Mara, chair of Jenner & Block. The Stradley lawyers they’re usually going in-house or mak- Property Casualty Co. retained Daniel Stradley Ronon’s litigation department, were better able to present unified ar- ing a career change. He is a “lifer,” Fitch, Jeffrey Grossman and Benjamin said. “We just look for smaller teams guments, O’Mara said, and a lawyer as is managing partner and litigator Gordon last year just weeks before trial, and team continuity.” from the Jenner & Block team men- Jeff Lutsky. Sasso, though not a litiga- and the six-day trial ended in a de- It’s part of the firm’s emphasis on effi- tioned that when they spoke afterward. tor, also started his career at Stradley fense judgment. The insurer had paid ciency, chairman William R. Sasso said, “Because we are the size we are, Ronon. more than $18.5 million to the owner which took hold when C. Clark Hodgson we take a lean and mean approach,” “We know each other very well and of a Villanova mansion that burnt down Jr. was chairman, from 1988 to 1993. Sasso said. “We just assess a case, and we work together very well as a result in 2012. The plaintiff, who rented the O’Mara was a “student” of Hodgson, spend a great deal of time assessing of that,” O’Mara said. “It absolutely has mansion, sought more than $20 mil- Sasso said, and took that philosophy “to it in the beginning to make sure it’s an impact on the results for our client.” lion, arguing that Chartis interfered a new level” as practice chair. staffed appropriately.” Sasso noted that the litigation teams with her attempt to purchase the home. O’Mara said he looks to staff a matter In addition, he said, the clients bene- are also encouraged to become well- The firm’s litigation clients have with two or three lawyers “who can de- fit from having the same litigation team acquainted with clients, which also also included multiple state agencies vote a lot of time and attention” to the over long periods of time. More than started with Hodgson. and governmental bodies, such as case. O’Mara and Sasso said Stradley’s half of the firm’s 30 litigation partners “He preached ‘get to know your Stradley Ronon continues on 29

The Legal Intelligencer 5 Cozen O’Connor continued from 4 results, he said. American Arbitration Association’s fracking also serve to promote the But, Weil said, Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Arbitration Rules. firm as one that can get results that union picketing, and a successful litigators know the courtroom is just a Approved in 2010, the rule allows impact an entire industry, not just the defense of real estate developers fac- piece of a larger goal—meeting the parties to file what amounts to a client in that particular case. ing a criminal grand jury investigation client’s overall business objectives. motion to dismiss the arbitration. It’s A company involved in hydraulic and related civil suits. “It’s more than just winning the use is discouraged, however, because fracturing, or fracking, was sued by a Weil attributes this to the practice next motion,” Weil said. “What is the arbitration is supposed to be broadly group of families in Western of hiring good trial lawyers, regard- long-term plan here?” accessible and the parties typically Pennsylvania for allegedly causing less of what area they have tradition- Cozen O’Connor is an entrepre- have agreed to arbitrate disputes. But contamination of their water supply. ally focused on. And the firm’s neurial firm and it focuses on attain- the court ruled in Cozen O’Connor’s The company wanted coverage from its insurance defense roots have given ing clients’ business goals, Weil said. favor, dismissing the key claim and insurer, Cozen O’Connor’s client. The Cozen O’Connor touch points to a “Litigation is usually a mechanism allowing the $70 million case to settle insurer denied coverage under the pol- variety of industries that generated that clients sometimes have to use to for a nominal amount, the firm said. lution exclusion provision of the policy. additional client relationships, he do that,” he said. “Your job as a lawyer is to get the The fracking company argued it said. It all comes down to strategy for the best result as quickly and efficiently didn’t put any foreign pollutants into “What you find is that good lawyers firm, which is when that entrepre- as you can,” Weil said. “We are always the water, but rather caused the release are good lawyers and that they are neurial, take-chances spirit can often looking for opportunities, even if it of natural elements in the earth that capable of taking all kinds of cases,” be seen. means being creative and going down were broken free from the pressure of Weil said. When Weil led a team of lawyers paths you hadn’t gone down before.” the fracking process and contaminat- Cozen O’Connor is also known for representing Endo Pharmaceuticals But that also requires the client’s ed the water. There was little case law being willing to go to trial, in part in a suit alleging the client breached a trust. on the issue and Cozen O’Connor because its mix of large and smaller licensing agreement involving “We spotted a shortcut and the cli- argued the pollution exclusion didn’t cases gives it more of an opportunity Lidoderm, the firm decided to use a ent had the confidence in us to let us distinguish between foreign or natural to see a courtroom, Weil said. Being rarely invoked, and in fact discour- take a try at it,” Weil said. substances. The court agreed, giving known for its willingness to take a aged, rule to dismiss an arbitration. Wins like the one Philadelphia Cozen O’Connor a win it can point to case to a jury has helped the firm get It was the first time a Cozen partner Richard Mason achieved in a in any other fracking-related pollution its clients better and faster settlement O’Connor lawyer used Rule 33 of the case over insurance coverage and case. •

Stradley Ronon continued from 5 Pennsylvania Constitution. But the case pre-trial and secure a defense investors to get more individual atten- justices found that the plaintiffs were verdict after a jury trial. In another tion for their losses. the Pennsylvania General Assembly, not entitled to any of the settlement instance, an age discrimination claim “That is literally groundbreaking, the the Southeastern Pennsylvania funds under the Tobacco Settlement brought by a former SEPTA bus opera- work we’re doing in that area for our Transportation Authority and the Act. tor, the same team of Stradley Ronon financial institution clients. And they Pennsylvania Insurance Department. In other work for the General lawyers argued that SEPTA had pro- end up with a much higher recovery,” Jon Bloom, Karl Myers and Ian Long Assembly, Bloom, Myers and Chelsea duced evidence of a legitimate reason he said. “The client isn’t tossed in with a of Stradley Ronon secured a Supreme Beimiller of Stradley Ronon defended for dismissal. The court awarded sum- whole group of other plaintiffs.” Court win for the General Assembly Sen. David Argall, R-Berks, in a federal mary judgment to SEPTA. Stradley Ronon lawyers Keith Dutill, last year, when the justices took up case challenging the constitutionality The focus on efficiency has even taken Joseph Kelleher and Marissa Parker are a long-running lawsuit brought by of a Pennsylvania criminal law stat- shape in Stradley Ronon’s approach to representing the investors, along with co- former beneficiaries of adultBasic, a ute. The defense team was successful representing more than 100 investors as counsel from Kessler, Topaz, Meltzer & state-subsidized health insurance pro- in getting Argall dismissed from the they sue Petroleo Brasileiro in connec- Check. O’Mara said it’s one of the more gram. The plaintiffs had challenged case. tion with a multibillion dollar securi- interesting matters his department is work- the General Assembly’s redirection In a discrimination and retaliation ties fraud. The investors are choosing ing on now. of funds from a 2001 settlement with claim brought by a former labora- to file direct lawsuits instead of partici- “It’s not the type of thing that many, a number of tobacco companies, ar- tory manager, Stradley Ronon lawyers pating in a class action. The approach if any Philadelphia firms are doing, but guing that the legislators violated Danielle Banks, Michelle Carson and fits in with the firm’s strategy toward we’ve developed a nice niche in that the Tobacco Settlement Act and the Caitlin Oberst were able to narrow the efficiency, Sasso said, as it allows the space,” O’Mara said. •

Meyer Unkovic continued from 8 clients, but also made law that will help an uninterrupted 21-year period. many firms are reporting a slowdown other similarly situated clients in the future. The case was one of first impression overall in litigation. Ober said his firm’s ability to handle In Northern Forests II v. Keta Realty, in Pennsylvania that could have impli- When asked whether his firm was cases cost-effectively without sacrific- partner Ronald L. Hicks Jr. success- cations for oil and gas rights owners experiencing a similar dip in litiga- ing quality is a credit to the “extremely fully argued before a Lycoming County across the state. tion work, Ober was unequivocal in his experienced commercial litigators” in Common Pleas judge and, later, the Meyer Unkovic’s litigation team had response. its partner ranks, as well as a group of state Superior Court that a property’s a busy 2015 and has several multimil- “Not in the least,” he said. “I will tell you “outstanding” associates. oil and gas rights can only be adversely lion dollar cases on the horizon in candidly that we have never been busier ... In 2015, the firm’s attorneys not only possessed through the continuous re- Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey. I haven’t seen any downturn. At least with achieved big, immediate wins for their moval and production of oil and gas for Still, as we near the close of 2016, our practice, it’s been an uptick.” •

White and Williams continued from 15 “It’s not only about the stakes of term and the long term, Olsan said. appetites for how far they’ll take a case a particular case,” Olsan said. “One For example, it might make sense in litigation,” Olsan added. the industry in which it operates of the things we offer our clients in to fight a case that doesn’t have much Perhaps more than anything, that is essential for litigators in an era litigation especially is the knowledge money at stake because the issue requires listening to the clients rather when in-house departments are fac- of what issues are confronting them.” is one that’s likely to recur, proving than talking at them, Olsan said, re- ing massive internal pressure to get Attorneys need to tailor their ap- more costly in the future, he said. lating a credo he once heard and took as much value as possible from their proach to each case based on how it But it’s important to understand to heart: “You have two ears and one outside counsel. will affect the client in both the short that “different clients have different mouth. Use them proportionally.” •

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The Legal Intelligencer 29