Motley Rice wins two 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers Firm of the Year awards
ALM and The National Trial Lawyers has listed Motley Rice as Firm of the Year in the Governmental Representation and Mass Torts categories of their 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers award. Environmental attorney Esther Berezofsky was also one of 11 winners of the Elite Women of the Plaintiffs’ Bar award, and Sarah Hansel was one of 40 winners of the inaugural Rising Stars of the Plaintiffs Bar award.
No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
In addition, Motley Rice was a finalist in three other categories:
- Environmental protection
- Pharmaceutical litigation
- Products liability
Motley Rice’s co-founding member Joe Rice is Co-Lead Counsel of the National Prescription Opiate MDL. Motley Rice represents dozens of governmental entities in ongoing opioid investigations and litigations filed in state and federal courts. The firm’s co-founding member, Joe Rice, is Co-Lead Counsel of the National Prescription Opiate MDL and was one of the lead negotiators for the proposed $26 billion settlements reached in July with Johnson & Johnson and the nation’s “Big Three” opioid distributors: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. Linda Singer is also co-chair of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee’s Manufacturer/Marketing Committee and Lou Bograd is co-chair of the Law & Briefing Committee. Read more on the settlement.
The firm is also trial counsel for plaintiffs in an ongoing bench trial in Orange County Superior Court for several California communities against several opioid manufacturers. Additionally, the firm represents the City of Huntington, W.Va., in one of the first trials to go forward against distributors in the MDL.
Motley Rice also 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. Environmental attorneys Esther Berezofsky and Sarah Hansel also lead the firm’s representation of Flint, Mich., residents and helped negotiate a $641 million settlement to resolve claims against state officials with regards to the city’s water crisis.
ALM and The National Trial Lawyers announced the winners during a ceremony July 29, 2021 at Mandarin Oriental in New York City. View all of those listed as 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers.
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 award list includes only plaintiffs lawyers and firms that devote at least 50 percent of their litigation resources to plaintiffs work, and inclusion is determined 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.