Proskauer Rose

The prominence of Proskauer Rose in the life sciences space got a significant boost with the relatively recent addition of trial lawyer "extraordinaire" Bart Williams, championed by a vocal and enthusiastic chorus of peers. "He is just magnificent in front of a jury," raves one. Another enthuses, "He is a real power player, and Johnson & Johnson just loves him." Williams, along with Manuel Cachan, was retained as trial counsel for this aforementioned client in the first of potentially over 300 individual lawsuits filed in California regarding an alleged causal link between talc powder and ovarian cancer. The bellwether case was brought by a 63-year old woman claiming that perineal use of J&J's Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower products caused or contributed to the development of her ovarian cancer. The trial resulted in a plaintiff's verdict, but in October 2017, a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge granted the defendants' motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and entered judgment in favor of the defendants.

Cachan meanwhile led a team representing Johnson & Johnson in a number of high-profile product liability trials, including as trial counsel in a three-week jury trial in Oklahoma City state court alleging that exposure to Johnson's Baby Powder causes mesothelioma.