HarrisMartin's National Benzene Litigation Conference Speaker Profiles



Co-Chair Tim Gray, Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy LLP, New Orleans Show/Hide Bio

Co-Chair Tim Gray

Tim Gray is a partner in the New Orleans Louisiana office of Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy LLP. Tim’s practice includes the defense of companies in mass tort litigation on a nation-wide basis. He currently serves as national coordinating counsel for defendants in asbestos litigation and a defendant in benzene litigation.

In addition to his national counsel roles, Tim serves as Louisiana and Texas counsel for defendants in toxic tort and environmental matters, having recently defended a class action brought by users and residents of two allegedly contaminated rivers in Louisiana and Mississippi. Tim regularly represents defendants in Louisiana and Texas for all asbestos and benzene claims filed against such defendants in those states. Tim also has experience in commercial litigation and claims brought under maritime law.

More information about Tim may be found here: http://www.fpwkt.com/index.php?page=tim-gray

Co-Chair Larry J. Chilton, Chilton Yambert & Porter LLP, Chicago Show/Hide Bio

Larry's practice focuses on the defense of the oil and chemical industries in toxic tort, transportation, environmental and related class action litigation in state and federal courts. He frequently acts as counsel jointly retained by multiple defendants and has extensive experience in structuring and managing such joint defenses. Larry also focuses his practice on Municipal Law and Civil Rights litigation and has represented numerous local units of government and local officials in state and federal court. He has extensive general commercial and employment litigation experience in a variety of areas including chancery actions for injunctive relief. Larryís vast jury trial experience also includes published verdicts in the areas of wrongful death, amputation, traumatic brain injury, cancer and others. He has argued cases before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and several Illinois Appellate Courts. In addition, Larry has been admitted to practice on a pro hac vice basis throughout the country.

Co-Chair Tom Schwartz, Holloran White Schwartz & Gaertner LLP, St. Louis Show/Hide Bio

Co-Chair Tom Schwartz

Tom is a lifelong resident of St. Louis, and a graduate of St. Louis University High School, Marquette University, and St. Louis University School of Law, cum laude.

Tom is licensed in Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky, and he regularly represents clients in trial matters throughout the country. While Tom handles a variety of personal injury matters, his areas of emphasis are products liability, toxic torts, and the representation of railroad workers in FELA litigation. He is appointed as designated legal counsel for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers as well as the Sheet Metal Workers International Association.

Tom serves on several local community boards, and he has previously elected by his St. Louis lawyer peers to a six-year term on the Judicial Commission for the 22nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri.

Tom has tried multiple cases involving personal injury matters. In 2005, he received the Missouri Bar Association’s Lon O. Hocker Award for outstanding trial advocacy.

Tom is a member of the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys (Board of Governors 2004 and 2005), the Lawyers Association of St. Louis (Executive Board 2004-present), the American Association for Justice, and several other legal related organizations.

Tom and his wife Brigid have three children – Joe, Grace, and Lucie.

John M. Bennett, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, N.Y.

Andrew J. DuPont, Locks Law Firm, Philadelphia

David H. Garabrant, M.D., M.P.H., University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI

Elizabeth Foley, Zagnoli McEvoy Foley LLC, Litigation Consulting, Chicago

Dean Hartley, Hartley & O'Brien PLLC, Wheeling, WV

J. Keith Hyde, Provost Umphrey Law Firm LLP, Beaumont, TX

Joseph D. Lonardo, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, Washington, DC

Robert J. Kelly, Littleton Joyce Ughetta Park & Kelly LLP, Red Bank NJ

Steven M. Lucks, Fishkin Lucks LLP, New York

Chris Madeksho, Madeksho Law Firm, Los Angeles

Keith Patton, Shrader & Associates, Houston

Raphael Metzger, Metzger Law Group, Long Beach, CA

Denise Klug Pentino, Dinsmore & Shohl LLP, Wheeling, WV

Stan Perry, Reed Smith, Houston

Lawrence P. Riff, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Los Angeles

Lea Ann Smith, Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy, LLP, New Orleans

Barry J. Thompson, Hogan Lovells, Los Angeles

Greg Thompson, Greg Thompson Mediation Services, Beaumont, TX

Joseph R. Vallort, Chilton Yambert & Porter LLP, Chicago

Judge Warren D. Wolfson, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law, DePaul College of Law, Chicago

Brett J. Young, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, Houston

Andrew C. Schirrmeister III, Schirrmeister Diaz-Arrastia Brem, LLP, Houston