Lauren J. Elliot

Lauren Elliot is a partner in the New York office and is a member of Orrick's Litigation and Intellectual Property practice groups.  While Ms. Elliot has extensive product liability experience, she has litigated a wide variety of matters in federal and state trial and appellate courts and in arbitration.  Her representations have been for clients in the pharmaceutical, chemical, biotech, consumer goods and fashion industries and on behalf of high net worth individual business entrepreneurs.  Recently, Ms. Elliot successfully argued an appeal in the Second Circuit on an unresolved question of New York civil practice.  A sampling of her representations are below.

• Vaccine Litigation.  Ms. Elliot manages the team of Orrick litigators which serves as national counsel to Wyeth (now Pfizer) throughout the United States in its defense of hundreds of product liability litigations concerning neurological injuries (such as autism spectrum disorders) allegedly associated with the use of the preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines.  She has appeared in courts around the country for Wyeth and was a member of the Wyeth trial team in connection with the first Frye hearing (conducted over a two-week period in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City), in which Wyeth successfully attacked the general acceptance of plaintiffs' theories and the qualifications of each of plaintiffs' proffered expert witnesses.  On December 21, 2007, Judge Stuart R. Berger granted in its entirety Wyeth's motion to preclude the testimony of plaintiffs' expert witnesses and ultimately dismissed the case. In May 2009, the highest court of Maryland affirmed Judge Berger's decision, precipitating the voluntary dismissal of the scores of cases pending against Wyeth in Maryland.  Outside the courtroom, Ms. Elliot has been responsible for responding to the relentless and well-coordinated attacks by advocacy groups through the Internet and in the media.
• Other Product Liability Litigation: Throughout her career, Ms. Elliot has litigated numerous product liability cases involving a wide range of pharmaceutical and consumer products, manufactured by Wyeth (and its predecessors) and other companies.  Ms. Elliot recently secured a summary judgment dismissal for a Georgia tranquilizer gun manufacturer in New York State Supreme Court, Kings County. 
• Commercial Litigation.  Ms. Elliot has substantial experience handling controversies between parties to co-development and joint marketing agreements and in connection with joint ventures.  She served as lead trial counsel for ZG Nevada Limited Partnership in a three-week bankruptcy court trial that successfully secured for ZG Nevada Limited Partnership its prior recovery (in a Surrogate's Court proceeding litigated by Ms. Elliot) of a multi-million dollar advance made in connection with a prospective joint venture.  No appeal was taken from the judgment of the Bankruptcy Court, which found in favor of ZG Nevada Limited Partnership on all issues. 
• Intellectual Property Litigation.  Ms. Elliot has experience litigating and trying patent infringement and inventorship disputes in pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device cases for American Cyanamid and Dow AgroSciences LLC. 
• Fashion Industry Litigation.  Ms. Elliot has represented fashion industry clients in disputes arising out of license and distribution agreements.  She successfully represented the interests of an Italian clothing designer against multiple attempts by one of its distributors to restrain the conduct of its business in the United States. 

Ms. Elliot is the Hiring Partner for Orrick's New York Office. 

Before joining Orrick, Ms. Elliot was an associate at Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine, LLP.

Admitted in

• New York

Court Admissions

• Second Circuit
• Federal Circuit
• Third Circuit

• Eastern District of New York
• Southern District of New York

Memberships

• The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Product Liability Committee (2006-2009)
• Food Drug Law Institute
• Defense Research Institute

Multimedia

Publications

• Co-author with Richard Jacobsen, "Food Litigation: The New Frontier," New York Law Journal (GC Edition), July 8, 2010

Speeches & Programs

• Guest Lecturer, Ethics: Discovery and Litigation, University of Chicago Law School (2008-2010)
• Speaker, "No Small Matter: Indemnifying Prescribing Physicians and the Issues that Must be Considered," DRI Drug and Medical Defense Seminar (May 2005)