HarrisMartin's Plaintiff Opioid MDL Conference Speaker Profiles



Co-Chair Shelly Sanford, Watts | Guerra LLP, San Antonio Show/Hide Bio

Co-Chair Shelly Sanford

Shelly Sanford attended the University of Texas at Austin where she received a degree in journalism before attending St. Mary’s University School of Law. During her time at law school, Ms. Sanford was the President of the St. Thomas Moore Society and attended UT Law School while she completed a judicial internship with the Hon. Raul Gonzales on the Supreme Court of Texas.

After law school, Ms. Sanford worked as an associate attorney at Bernsen, Jamail & Goodson in Austin, and then at the O’Quinn Law Firm in Houston, Texas. In 2001, she joined the partnership of Goforth Lewis Sanford LLP before founding her own law firm, Shelly A. Sanford PLLC in 2007.

Ms. Sanford evaluates and handles cases involving commercial disputes, complex arbitration proceedings, real estate development losses and delays, finance and mortgage industry disputes, medical devices, dangerous pharmaceutical products, serious injuries or death, and mass actions.

Co-Chair Jayne Conroy, Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, New York Show/Hide Bio

Co-Chair Jayne Conroy

As a named shareholder of Simmons Hanly Conroy, Ms. Conroy is an experienced litigator who has developed a superb national reputation as a skilled strategist, trial lawyer and negotiator over her thirty year career. For many years, Ms. Conroy acted as national trial and coordinating defense counsel to a multi-national corporation and several of its subsidiaries. In recent years, she has represented plaintiffs exclusively in a wide variety of products liability matters.

Ms. Conroy’s practice currently focuses on various complex civil cases, including a high profile sex abuse case against multiple Catholic institutions and litigation against Volkswagen on behalf of several thousand plaintiffs who were affected by the German automaker’s recent emissions scandal.

Ms. Conroy has a track record for standing up for the rights of individuals and families harmed by corporate wrongdoing. She has recovered millions in verdicts and settlements for those injured by unsafe consumer products, including victims of 9/11, families impacted by Toyota’s recent unintended acceleration malfunction, and thousands of young women who suffered heart attacks and other cardiovascular injuries as a result of taking Yaz, a heavily marketed birth control manufactured by the Bayer corporation. She currently represents multiple individuals who were injured by DePuy artificial hips and pelvic repair system materials.

Co-Chair Shayna E. Sacks, Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, New York Show/Hide Bio

Co-Chair Shayna E. Sacks

Shayna E. Sacks is a Partner in the firm’s Pharmaceutical Litigation department. She focuses her nationwide practice on obtaining the best results for clients in the areas of mass tort litigation, including pharmaceutical products liability, personal injury, medical device and medical malpractice cases. She serves as Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel in the In Re: Plavix Product Liability and Marketing Litigation by the Honorable Freda L. Wolfson of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey.

Prior to joining Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, Ms. Sacks worked at Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik LLP, with a concentration in pharmaceutical products liability litigation. Previously, she worked at Baker Sanders Barshay Grossman Fass Muhlstock & Neuwirth, LLC, in their no-fault litigation department. Earlier in her career, Ms. Sacks worked at Rheingold, Valet, Rheingold, Shkolnik & McCartney, LLP, and Lewis Saul & Associates focusing on pharmaceutical products liability, automobile, medical device and medical malpractice litigation. While attending law school, she interned with the Legal Aid Society, Federal Defenders Division, Southern District of New York.

Anne Andrews, Andrews and Thornton, Irvine, CA

David McMullan, Barrett Law Group, P.A., Lexington, MS

Sarah Burns, Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, Alton, IL

Curtis “Muskrat” Bruehl, Fulmer Sill, Oklahoma City, OK

John R. Climaco, Climaco, Wilcox, Peca & Garofoli Co., LPA, Cleveland

Erin K. Dickinson, Crueger Dickinson LLC, Whitefish Bay, WI

Hon. Ann E. Callis (Ret.), Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C., Edwardsville, IL

Kelly Daley, Vice President, Burford Capital, Chicago

Mark P. Chalos, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, Nashville, TN

Sen. Joseph Dunn (Ret.), Assistant Dean for External Relations, University of California, Irvine School of Law, Irvine, CA

Paul J. Hanly, Jr., Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, New York

Daniel R. Karon, Karon LLC, Cleveland

W. Mark Lanier, The Lanier Law Firm, Houston

John M. Restaino, D.P.M., J.D., M.P.H., Senior Of-Counsel Attorney, Sanders Phillips Grossman, Denver

Paul J. Pennock, Weitz & Luxenberg P.C., New York

Gretchen Freeman Cappio, Keller Rohrback Law Offices LLP, Seattle

Hunter J. Shkolnik, Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, New York

Steven Skikos, Skikos, Crawford, Skikos & Joseph, LLP, San Francisco