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Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell

United States (National)

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Key practice areas
Top 20 Trial Law Firms
Dispute resolution
Product liability
Product liability and recall
Firm overview
Whether you are a client looking to win or a lawyer looking to build a fulfilling career, we are different.

We approach matters as business problems, not legal puzzles, revealing practical solutions others miss. We don’t waste time on aimless, playbook-driven litigation trench warfare – we identify the key business issues, design a strategy to reach the right outcome, and don’t let go until we get there. And our trial experience helps us anticipate early how a case will play out, expose weaknesses in opponents’ positions, and achieve favorable resolutions at trial or before.

We are easy to work with, too. Our single office, selective hiring, and intensive training foster broad collaboration that spreads the best litigation and client service techniques across the firm. We work well with clients and co-counsel, and never damage reputations or relationships through ego-driven litigation behavior. And our rising lawyers take on significant responsibility early, helping them perform beyond their tenure to the benefit of clients and their own careers.

Our core strengths are high-stakes, often industry-shaping commercial disputes, class and mass actions, antitrust, and appellate. We are especially known for trial work and are often brought in to try cases when the stakes are high or the environment is especially challenging.

We are a team of determined litigators with a deep enthusiasm for trials, drawn to the firm by a shared passion for litigation excellence, collegiality, and the Colorado lifestyle. We are doing the work we have always wanted to do—and that drives our relentless commitment to everything we do.
Address:
370 Seventeenth Street
Suite 4500, Denver
Colorado
80202
Tel:303.244.1800 Fax:303.244.1879 Web Address:https://www.wtotrial.com/
2027 Edition
Product liability and recall
29 firms ranked
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Top 20 Trial Law Firms
20 firms ranked
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Outstanding ...


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Linked Reviews
Dispute Resolution
Operating two offices in Denver and St. Louis, Wheeler Trigg & O’Donnell is recognized for having an established footprint in the Midwest. The firm hosts a number of highly skilled litigators skilled in a number of complex civil and commercial matters. Managing Partner Carolyn Fairless, one of Benchmark’s Top 250 Women in Litigation, won a complete defense jury verdict for a leading auto parts maker in federal court in Kentucky in a nine-year-old breach of contract claim brought by a sub-subcontractor—a third-party beneficiary to the contract in question. The suit alleged the client’s termination of the contract entitled the plaintiff to millions of dollars in damages and penalty payments per the terms of the agreement. The firm was hired just six months prior to the trial, which the Court had twice dismissed in separate rulings, only to see the plaintiff successfully appeal to the Sixth Circuit. After the firm’s intervention, a successful defense verdict was rendered. John Fitzpatrick is highly regarded for his mass tort practice. Fitzpatrick served as lead counsel for Intermountain Power in highly complex litigation, successfully negotiating a settlement on favorable terms for his client concerning a consortium of 18 dairy farmers who alleged that stray electricity from the client’s power system depressed dairy herd production in excess of $1 billion in damages. Firm president Hugh Gottschalk successfully represented IBM in a Denver court in a dispute involving tax assessments by the City of Golden, with the court invalidating previous penalties levied against the company. Habib Nasrullah is lead counsel to long-time client McKesson, the largest pharmaceutical distributor in North America. The firm was hired as national settlement counsel to handle all litigation involving its subsidiary Northstar Rx and its chemotherapy drug Taxotere. The cases were consolidated in federal multidistrict litigation in New Orleans, and Nasrullah was able to prove Northstar Rx was not liable for the alleged damages, and plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the subsidiary without any payment by the client. Michael O’Donnell is lead counsel to Skyjack, who hired the firm to take over its entire portfolio of U.S. product liability litigation including over 20 active matters with the vast majority involving claims resulting from lift accidents. The firm has resolved most of the original portfolio and is handling all of Skyjack’s new cases going forward. High-stakes litigator Theresa Wardon Benz obtained a complete defense verdict for client Michelin in a product liability lawsuit that received national attention. Michael Williams currently represents Whirlpol in a multistate consumer class action lawsuit involving allegations of defective dryers. A new addition to this year’s list is Kathryn Reilly, who focuses her practice on complex commercial and antitrust litigation. Among her current matters, Reilly is representing clients in a federal class action lawsuit involving alleged collusion to keep au pair wages artificially low.
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