Esther Berezofsky, Previn Warren featured as 2023 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers
Motley Rice is proud to announce that environmental attorney Esther Berezofsky and technology attorney Previn Warren have been included in the 2023 list of The National Law Journal as Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers. The publication annually recognizes “legal professionals who have made significant marks on the practice, policy and technological advancements in their sector.” Due to their effort to create change in their respective litigation areas, Esther Berezofsky and Previn Warren have been honored.
Esther is at the forefront of litigation involving toxic PFAS chemical contamination in the U.S. and consults on environmental matters in the Netherlands and Belgium’s Flemish Region. She represents the International Association of Fire Fighters in its mission to remove toxic PFAS chemicals from fire fighter protective gear. She helped secure more than $600 million to resolve legal claims arising out of the Flint water crisis. She also represents people harmed by allegedly defective medical devices, including Medtronic insulin pumps. Esther frequently speaks at conferences on topics related to environmental litigation and innovative resolution strategies, mass torts, toxic exposure, and products liability. Read the selection methodology. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
When reflecting on her career achievements, Esther told Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers that addressing what are sometimes less apparent or visible harms, namely the community trauma that can impact the fabric of a community, is as important as obtaining compensation for property damages. These harms are particularly profound when governmental entities, charged with protecting the public, are responsible for the harm caused, she said. Similarly, she added, when corporations conceal the toxic nature of their products for decades, while claiming a mantle of good corporate citizenship, they delay remedial solutions and advancements in medical science.
“For me this has been a springboard for developing resolution strategies that are more efficient, effective and minimize retraumatizing people in the litigation process,” she said.
Previn is co-lead counsel of a multidistrict litigation against social media platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Plaintiffs in the MDL allege the platforms are defective because they are designed to maximize screen time, which can encourage addictive behavior in adolescents and result in various emotional and physical harms, including death.
Throughout his career, Previn has also been recognized for his work to reinforce protections for artists in the face of rapidly evolving technology, especially in the music industry. In 2020, Previn’s representation of SoundExchange, a digital performance rights nonprofit, resulted in a substantial increase in the royalty revenues that musicians will receive from internet radio services. He secured a significant victory for copyright owner plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against a hip-hop website, establishing a landmark precedent concerning infringement in the era of streaming. He also helped recover $150 million in underpaid royalties for plaintiffs and was a key player in a rate-setting trial in 2017 that achieved the largest-ever increase in the royalty rate owed by Sirius XM.
When asked what bearing his efforts to hold technology companies accountable will have on the future, Previn told Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers “our society’s relationship to the Internet needs a rethink. We need to retire the idea that a technology should exist simply because it can exist. My hope is that effective, aggressive litigation on the back end will encourage technologists to think, on the front end, about the ethical consequences of their product designs.”
About Plaintiff Attorneys’ Trailblazers
The National Law Journal annually features several Trailblazer issues and accepts nominees who they believe “have made significant marks on the practice, policy and technological advancements in their sector.” The panel not only looks for lawyers who have worked on significant deals but are also acting as agents of change. Read more on their methodology.