June 2, 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. and BALTIMORE – Experienced litigator Terri S. Reiskin has joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP as a partner in its Washington, D.C. and Baltimore offices. She joins from Dykema, where she led the Class Action Defense Team and was the practice group leader for the Product Liability, Class Actions, and Professional Liability Group from 2016-2020.
Reiskin is an experienced litigator whose practice focuses on class action defense and mass torts, including lead counsel in multi-district litigation and serving as national coordinating counsel. Her work centers on product-related litigation, particularly in the automotive and medical device industries, and includes the defense of numerous consumer class actions in courts around the country.
“Terri has significant trial experience, specifically in the automotive and medical device industries that we already serve,” said Steven A. McKelvey Jr., a leader in the automotive and transportation practice. “She brings an additional depth to our services, and we are happy to welcome her.
Added litigation leader David E. Dukes: “Terri brings strong litigation skills to our firm. She is experienced at creating high-level strategies for bringing challenging and bet-the-company litigation to a successful resolution, and she will be an asset to our group.”
Reiskin is recognized as a leading class action defense lawyer by legal ranking organizations Chambers USA and The Legal 500. In addition to her class action and MDL work, she has also defended numerous individual product liability cases involving a variety of products, including automobiles, trucks, food products, and medical devices, including hip implants, breast implants, bone screws, latex gloves, and pacemakers. Her first-chair trial experience includes trial of class actions and individual products liability cases. She has also served as appellate counsel and has written a number of amicus briefs. In addition to her work in the automotive and medical device industries, she has defended Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act class actions.
“I am thrilled at the opportunity to join the talented litigators at Nelson Mullins. My automotive and medical device practice is a great fit with the firm’s strong existing practices in these industries,” Reiskin said.
Reiskin comes to the firm in the wake of five other new partners with national trial experience. They are:
• Thomas J. Cullen, who has represented clients in complex pharmaceutical, product liability, and toxic tort litigation for more than 30 years.
• Kali E. Book, who has represented material handling equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturers in state and federal cases throughout the United States, including in mass tort and multi-district litigation.
• Erika L. Downie, who has more than 20 years of experience in complex litigation involving pharmaceutical and medical device product liability, toxic tort and environmental litigation, and general tort liability claims.
• Alicia Ritchie, an experienced litigator who handles complex cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the country.
• Kate Skagerberg, who serves as trial counsel in high-exposure cases in federal and state courts across the country.
Nelson Mullins’ Litigation Group has more than 425 attorneys across 24 offices and nine states coast to coast, and more than a dozen attorneys have first-chair experience in product liability matters. More than 25% of its litigators are involved in products liability litigation matters, including service as national counsel in multi-state litigation, trial counsel, class actions counsel, and leaders of science and discovery teams. The firm has one of the largest full-service e-discovery teams in the country with more than 50 attorneys and 30 technology specialists working in its Encompass division. Legal ranking organization Benchmark Litigation has ranked Nelson Mullins as Law Firm of the Year in products liability for two years in a row. Over the past three years, Nelson Mullins has represented a client in multi-state litigation in more than 16 states involving an allegedly defective industrial component part and have succeeded in obtaining more than 20 dismissals for lack of personal jurisdiction in trial courts all across the country, with state and federal appellate courts affirming orders of dismissal (or reversing trial court orders finding personal jurisdiction) in multiple cases.
