Julia Zousmer, a partner in King & Spalding's Chicago office, has fifteen years of experience defending pharmaceutical and consumer product manufacturers in complex product liability and mass tort litigation, including in federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) and state court coordinated proceedings.  She has managed dockets of hundreds and thousands of cases at all phases of the MDL lifecycle—from pre-consolidation and MDL formation to negotiating and drafting they key foundational case management orders, developing and negotiating bellwether processes, trying bellwether cases, drafting motions dismissing hundreds of cases, and using case management tools to winnow meritless cases from the docket prior to global resolution.  Julia is a member of the Court-appointed Leadership Development Committee in the Zantac MDL in the Southern District of Florida and a key member of the team serving as national counsel for Boehringer Ingelheim in all Zantac litigation in state and federal court, which won an historic Daubert and Summary Judgment victory in the MDL disposing of approximately 50,000 claims.  She is playing a lead role in the Cook County consolidated proceeding, where she negotiated docketwide discovery procedures and contributed to motion practice that has reduced the 500+ plaintiff docket by more than 50% since creation and has played a role in all of the Zantac Cook County trials to date, each of which has ended in successful outcomes for Defendants, including two complete defense verdicts, two mistrials as a result of hung juries, a pre-trial summary judgment victory and several voluntary dismissals of Boehringer in cases set for trial thus far.

Julia has extensive trial experience, having achieved successful outcomes for clients on 15 trial teams in state and federal courts in some of the highest profile product liability MDLs of the past decade.

Julia has been recognized by Law360 as a Rising Star in Life Sciences and was selected for its Illinois Editorial Board, by Chicago Lawyer & Chicago Daily Law Bulletin as one of “40 Under Forty 2023 Illinois Attorneys to Watch,” by Legal 500 as a Key Lawyer in Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action Defense, by Best Lawyers as "One to Watch" in Product Liability and Mass Tort Litigation, and by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star for ten years in New York and Illinois. 

Julia is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) and a member of the Board of Friends of Prentice, the fundraising arm of Northwestern's Prentice Women's Hospital that raises money for women's health in all realms. 

 

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