Sara Roitman is an accomplished product liability litigator who represents clients facing some of their most challenging legal issues. Ms. Roitman specializes in representing manufacturers in high-stakes multi-jurisdictional mass tort cases in federal and state courts around the country. Her experience includes leading complex coordinated proceedings involving thousands of cases, directing global strategy for clients across numerous jurisdictions and co-parties, and arguing key dispositive and evidentiary motions. Ms. Roitman 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 by Chambers USA, named in 2018 and 2019 as Practice Group of the Year for Product Liability by Law360, and Litigation Department of the Year for Product Liability by New York Law Journal in 2019 and 2020. In 2020, she was recognized by Profiles in Diversity Journal in the publication's Women Worth Watching in STEM Awards, which were established to celebrate women leaders who break barriers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. She was also recognized as a Rising Star by Euromoney Women in Business Awards U.S. Edition (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. Roitman's extensive product liability experience includes defending Fortune 500 and major privately held companies facing a wide range of legal issues: personal injury, RICO, public nuisance, consumer fraud, False Claims Act claims, and governmental litigation brought by state attorneys general and local municipalities. Most recently, she represents Purdue Pharma as one of its lead national counsel in thousands of federal and state lawsuits arising out of Purdue's sale and promotion of opioid medications. Ms. Roitman was appointed by the MDL Court as co-liaison counsel for state and federal coordination issues and she was lead liaison counsel for all opioid manufacturers in the opioid coordinated action pending in Illinois state court.
Ms. Roitman also helps clients negotiate global resolutions and innovative solutions to complex entrenched litigation by leveraging her ability to develop trust amongst both co¬defendants and opposing counsel. On behalf of clients, Ms. Roitman has successfully negotiated complex injunctive relief with a multistate coalition of state attorneys general, reached an advantageous resolution for a manufacturer facing a high-profile and risky preliminary injunction, and helped lead the design and implementation of a novel US$100 million pre-suit global resolution program involving a medical device company's marquee product. Ms. Roitman also regularly advises clients regarding strategic risk management and litigation avoidance, including working with clients' multidisciplinary teams to understand potential litigation, regulatory, and public relations exposure associated with various transactional matters.
Prior to joining Dechert, Ms. Roitman was an associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
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