Lauren J. Elliot

Lauren Elliot is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and a member of the firm’s Product Liability, Litigation, Intellectual Property and Life Sciences Practice Groups.

Ms. Elliot has litigated a wide range of complex product liability, patent infringement and commercial cases in trial and appellate courts around the country.   She has advised and defended companies in the life sciences industry in cases involving a vast array of pharmaceutical products, consumer goods and chemicals.  She works with clients to develop and implement litigation strategies that combine her courtroom litigation practice with public policy advocacy, including lobbying against commencement of litigation by State Attorneys General, consulting on state and federal legislative initiatives, interfacing with the media, responding to claims made by the growing number of advocacy groups and working closely with public health organizations.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Ms. Elliot was a partner in the New York office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Ms. Elliot graduated from Brown University in 1989 with honors (International Relations) and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School in 1993.  She is a member of The Food and Drug Law Institute, the Committee on Drugs and Medical Devices for the Defense Research Institute, and served two terms as a member of the Product Liability Committee for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Ms. Elliot is admitted to practice in New York.

Representative Matters:*
Mass Torts and Product Liability Litigation

• Ms. Elliot managed the team of litigators who served as national trial and appellate counsel to Wyeth (now Pfizer) in its defense of close to 400 product liability litigations concerning neurological injuries (such as autism spectrum disorders) allegedly associated with the use of the preservative thimerosal in childhood vaccines.  She argued in courts around the country for Wyeth and presented and cross-examined expert witnesses in the first Frye hearing (conducted over a two-week period), in which Wyeth successfully attacked plaintiffs’ theories and the qualifications of plaintiffs’ proffered expert witnesses.  Outside the courtroom, Ms. Elliot was responsible for responding to relentless and well-coordinated attacks by advocacy groups through the Internet and in the media.
• Throughout her career, Ms. Elliot has litigated numerous product liability cases involving a wide variety of pharmaceutical and consumer products such as antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, asbestos, benzene, contraceptives, lead pigment, medical devices, NSAIDs, pesticides and vaccines.  Last year, Ms. Elliot led the team that secured a summary judgment dismissal for a Georgia tranquilizer gun manufacturer in New York Supreme Court, Kings County, in a “bet-the-company” litigation for her client. 

Commercial Litigation

• Ms. Elliot has substantial experience handling controversies between parties to co-development and joint marketing agreements and in connection with joint ventures.  She was lead trial counsel for ZG Nevada Partnership in a three-week bankruptcy court trial that successfully secured for her client its prior recovery (from a NY Surrogate’s Court proceeding litigated by Ms. Elliot) of a multi-million dollar advance made in connection with a prospective joint venture.  No appeal was taken from the judgment of the Bankruptcy Court, which found in favor of ZG Nevada Limited Partnership on all issues.

Intellectual Property and Licensing Litigation

• Ms. Elliot has experience litigating and trying patent infringement and inventorship disputes in pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device cases.  She also has represented fashion designers and clothing distributors in licensing disputes in state court and in arbitration.  In one such dispute, Ms. Elliot successfully defeated attempts by a distributor to restrain the conduct of her client’s business in the United States.

Publications, Speech Engagements & Programs

• Lead author, “Food Litigation: The New Frontier,” New York Law Journal (GC Edition, July 8, 2010)
• Lead author, “No Small Matter: Indemnifying Prescribing Physicians and the Issues that Must be Considered,” DRI Drug and Medical Device Seminar (May 2005)
• Guest Lecturer, Ethics: Discovery and Litigation, University of Chicago Law School (2008-2010)
• Speaker, “No Small Matter: Indemnifying Prescribing Physicians and the Issues that Must be Considered,” DRI Drug and Medical Device Seminar (May 2005)

* Representations occurred prior to attorney’s association with Gibson Dunn