NEW YORK (Sept. 27, 2016) – Simmons Hanly Conroy is pleased to announce that Jayne Conroy, a Named Shareholder of the firm, has been selected by the New York Law Journal (NYLJ) as one of its “Top Women in Law” for 2016.
Conroy is among 30 women lawyers from throughout New York state to receive the honor for their significant contributions to the law or legal community over the past year. This marks the inaugural edition of NYLJ’s “Top Women in Law.”
“Jayne’s inclusion among this very select group of accomplished women lawyers from throughout the state and New York City is a tremendous honor for Jayne and for our firm” said John Simmons, chairman of Simmons Hanly Conroy. “We are extremely proud of Jayne for her passion and commitment to delivering outstanding results for our clients, most of whom are victims of corporate wrongdoing.”
A litigator with more than 30 years of experience, Conroy focuses her practice on complex civil cases. Her accomplishments over the last 12 months include securing a $502 million verdict in a bellwether trial against Johnson & Johnson over its DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implant. The six-week trial consolidated the cases of five plaintiffs in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Dallas Division. Conroy serves as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the DePuy Pinnacle MDL, which includes more than 7,000 plaintiffs nationwide.
Conroy also currently helps lead a high profile sex abuse case against multiple Catholic institutions and in January 2016 was named to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee leading the consumer litigation facing Volkswagen A.G. over its diesel emissions scandal. In addition, she serves on the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee for the MDL against Syngenta Seeds Inc. That litigation involves more than 175 lawsuits against the world’s largest crop chemicals company over the economic impact from contamination of the U.S. corn supply with a type of Syngenta genetically modified corn that is banned in China.
Conroy serves or has served as a member of Plaintiffs’ Steering or Executive Committees in nearly a dozen multidistrict pharmaceutical litigations and has been credited with orchestrating the settlements of thousands of pharmaceutical cases for a total recovery for Simmons Hanly Conroy clients that approaches $500 million. These include the 2008 landmark, $894 million settlement of Bextra and Celebrex cases against Pfizer.
Conroy was a leader in the litigation against Toyota over its 2009 and 2010 recalls of more than 2.3 million vehicles due to serious injuries involving incidents of sudden unintended acceleration. She also represented several thousand victims of the September 11, 2001, tragedy in a multi-district action against the financial sponsors of terrorism, and, in a separate set of negligence litigations against the airlines and airport security companies on behalf of 50 families who lost their loved ones on the four 9/11 aircraft.
In addition to her law practice, Conroy is nationally renowned as a speaker on trial advocacy and regularly sits on panels of experts at national litigation conferences.
The “Top Women in Law” honorees were selected based in part on nominations from members of the legal community. The criteria for selection included developing a successful practice, attaining a professional leadership role, performing in significant cases that resulted in key rulings, winning a victory at trial or a significant settlement, obtaining influence and stature in the public sector, leading a department through a difficult stretch, producing innovative ideas, demonstrating efforts to improve diversity in the profession, and helping indigent people obtain justice. The nominees included solo practitioners and attorneys in large and small firms, in-house legal departments, academia, government, nonprofit agencies, and on the bench.
The 2016 “Top Women in Law” will be recognized Nov. 15 at a celebratory dinner at the Manhattan Penthouse in New York.
