NEW YORK – Simmons Hanly Conroy, one of the nation’s largest mass torts firms and a national leader in the legal representation of mesothelioma patients and their families, is pleased to announce that the National Law Journal’s (NLJ’s) 2023 Elite Trial Lawyers Awards has selected the firm’s Named Shareholder Jayne Conroy as one of the Elite Women of the Plaintiff’s Bar. This marks the second year that Conroy has received this honor.
In addition, Simmons Hanly Conroy was selected as finalist for this year’s Elite Trial Lawyers Awards in the Pharmaceutical Litigation category. Conroy and other awards winners and finalists will be recognized at a ceremony July 13 in New York City.
“We congratulate Jayne as a finalist for the National Law Journal’s 2023 Elite Women of the Plaintiff’s Bar,” said Larry Nassif, managing shareholder of Simmons Hanly Conroy. “We are most proud of Jayne’s continued success and achievements as one of the preeminent litigators of the nation’s plaintiffs’ bar and a leader among women practicing in this area of the law.”
The Elite Women of the Plaintiff’s Bar are singled out as having demonstrated repeated success in cutting-edge work on behalf of plaintiffs. Started in 2015, the Elite Trial Lawyers Awards overall recognize lawyers and law firms’ outstanding plaintiffs work in high-stakes bench or jury trials or in major settlements.
Elite Trial Lawyers Awards winners must have scored a significant win during the contest period and demonstrate an impressive track record of wins over the last three to five years. Finalist firms also must have devoted at least 50 percent of their litigation resources to plaintiffs work and shown innovative approaches to case resolution.
Conroy oversees practice areas in Simmons Hanly Conroy’s Complex Litigation Department. Under her leadership, Simmons Hanly Conroy has become one of the country’s largest plaintiff law firms dedicated to helping those injured by corporate wrongdoing. Conroy has helped secure billions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for thousands of individuals, families and communities across the country. With more than three decades of legal experience, she focuses her practice on helping plaintiffs exclusively in mass torts, class actions, product liability, pharmaceutical and sexual abuse litigation.
Conroy serves or has served on dozens of court-appointed leadership committees in complex legal actions of national scope. Her most recent multidistrict litigation (MDL) appointments include:
- The Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee Leadership in the In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, which alleges social media platforms encourage addictive behavior in adolescents, and
- The Plaintiff’s Steering Committee for the multidistrict litigation against McKinsey & Company in the In re: McKinsey & Co Inc National Prescription Opiate Consultant Litigation, Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which alleges McKinsey knowingly engineered marketing tactics that caused an avalanche of opioid addiction.
Conroy also recently was selected as co-lead and interim class counsel representing plaintiffs in the case against Norfolk Southern, the company responsible for the Feb. 3, 2023, East Palestine train derailment. In addition, she currently serves as co-lead of the National Prescription Opiate Multidistrict Litigation in the Northern District of Ohio.
Among Conroy’s other national legal industry awards or recognitions are Law360’s Titan of the Plaintiffs’ Bar, the American Association for Justice’s Lifetime Achievement Award, induction into the National Trial Lawyers Association’s Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, and election as a member of the exclusive American Law Institute.
