Mara Cusker Gonzalez

Mara Cusker Gonzalez is a partner in Dechert’s product liability and mass torts practice. She specializes in representing manufacturers in complex product liability and mass tort cases in federal and state courts. She has extensive experience litigating personal injury, consumer fraud, RICO and False Claims Act cases filed by individuals, third-party payors, class action lawyers and attorneys general. She counsels pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and other clients in national litigations involving the marketing and labeling of FDA-approved medicines and other regulated products, and she has in-depth knowledge of federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) practice and state court coordinated proceedings.

Ms. Cusker Gonzalez has managed hundreds to thousands of cases involving statins, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, pain medications and chemotherapy. She has also represented major chemical manufacturers and home builders in cases alleging environmental exposure. She regularly leads the briefing of complex dispositive motions and appeals. She has won motions to dismiss False Claims Act and consumer fraud class actions and motions to exclude experts and for summary judgment in federal and state courts.

Ms. Cusker Gonzalez’s appellate work includes obtaining a decision affirming summary judgment orders that shut down an entire MDL involving more than 3,000 cases in In re Lipitor (Atorvastatin Calcium) Marketing, Sales Practices & Products Liability Litigation (No II) MDL 2502, 892 F.3d 624 (4th Cir. 2018), and summary affirmance of an important federal preemption ruling in Gayle v. Pfizer, Inc., 452 F. Supp. 3d 78 (S.D.N.Y. 2020), aff’d 847 Fed. Appx. 79 (2d Cir. 2021).

She is a member of Dechert’s nationally recognized team of product liability and mass tort lawyers, ranked Band 1 for Nationwide Product Liability & Mass Torts: The Elite by Chambers USA, named in 2018 and 2019 as Practice Group of the Year for Product Liability by Law360, and named Litigation Department of the Year for Product Liability by New York Law Journal in 2019 and 2020. In 2022, she was recognized by Legal 500 US in the area of Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions – Defense: Pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Ms. Cusker Gonzalez has been recognized for her work on pro bono immigration, employment and housing cases and for her dedication in training and mentoring junior lawyers. She is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) and the Defense Research Institute (DRI). She contributed to Duke Law School’s Guidelines and Best Practices for Large and Mass-Torts MDLs (2018) and co-authored the Mass Torts chapter of the American Bar Association’s comprehensive treatise, Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (5th ed. 2021).

Prior to joining Dechert, Ms. Cusker Gonzalez was of counsel at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and an associate with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.