Motley Rice a finalist in seven 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers categories
ALM and The National Trial Lawyers selected Motley Rice as a finalist in seven categories for their 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers award. Environmental attorney Esther Berezofsky is one of 11 winners of the Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar award, and Sarah Hansel is one of 40 winners of the inaugural Rising Stars of the Plaintiffs Bar award.
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Motley Rice is also a finalist for 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers in these other categories:
- Environmental protection
- Governmental representation
- Mass torts
- Pharmaceutical litigation
- Products liability
Among other mass tort litigation related to medical drugs, device and corporate wrongdoing, Motley Rice, led by co-founder Joe Rice as Co-Lead Counsel, is a leader of the National Prescription Opiate MDL. The firm represents dozens of governmental entities, including states, cities, towns, counties and townships in opioid investigations and litigation filed in state and federal courts, including an ongoing bench trial in Orange County Superior Court for several California communities. Motley Rice also represents the City of Huntington, W.V., in one of the first trials to go forward against distributors in the MDL. Additionally, the firm leads national mass tort litigation for patients harmed by hernia mesh, led negotiations of a $1.6 billion settlement to resolve the majority of Essure® birth control cases coordinated in California, and helped negotiate a $641 million settlement for Flint, Mich., residents impacted by the city’s water crisis.
ALM and The National Trial Lawyers will announce the winners during a ceremony July 29, 2021 at Mandarin Oriental in New York City. View all the finalists.
In 2020, Motley Rice won Firm of the Year in the pharmaceuticals and insurance liability categories. Jodi Westbrook Flowers also received the Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar award, and Joe Rice received the Elite Trial Lawyers Lifetime Achievement award. Read more on the firm’s recognitions.
About the 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers
The 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers awards are awarded based on achievements between Jan. 6, 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021. According to ALM and The National Law Journal, the 2021 finalists “demonstrated repeated success in cutting-edge work on behalf of plaintiffs over the last 18 months. They also possess a solid track record of client wins over the past three to five years.”
Editors and reporters from both publications reviewed hundreds of submissions to select finalists in more than 25 categories. The publications define a “significant win” as “prevailing in a bench or jury trial or in a major settlement in which the stakes are high—for example, a substantial amount of money is on the line or the outcome could affect litigation strategy or the results in similar cases nationally.”
The Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar Award “celebrates women lawyers who have consistently excelled in high-stakes matters on behalf of plaintiffs across their careers and within the last year.”
The inaugural Rising Stars of the Plaintiffs Bar award honors young lawyers under 40 “who are up-and-comers in the plaintiffs bar, already demonstrating their litigation prowess, service to the community, and/or impact on their firm.”
Motley Rice LLC, a South Carolina Limited Liability Company, is engaged in the New Jersey practice of law through Motley Rice New Jersey LLC. Esther Berezofsky attorney responsible for New Jersey practice.