HarrisMartin’s Women’s Issues in Litigation Conference Speaker Profiles

In 2010, Aimee became a founding partner of Andrus Wagstaff. Currently, she enjoys a thriving civil litigation practice with an emphasis in professional liability, products liability, mass torts, sports law, drug and medical device litigation, commercial litigation, and personal injury cases. Aimee has extensive trial experience.

In 2015, Aimee made MDL history when the Honorable Judge Kathryn H. Vratil appointed her to serve as Co-Lead counsel of the first ever majority women MDL PSC – MDL 2652: In Re: Ethicon, Inc., Power Morcellator Products Liability Litigation, situated in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The morcellator litigation involves women and their families all over the United States who have been diagnosed with devastating and permanent injuries, including leiomyosacroma (“LMS,” a deadly form of cancer), following the use of Ethicon’s power morcellator during a fibroid removal or hysterectomy surgery.

My experience in the field of products liability began with a 1984 case against the manufacturer of a hot air balloon that crashed on a Fresno race track, injuring dozens of people and killing numerous horses. Nearly 30 years later, my firm—which I head with my partner, John Thornton—has grown significantly in size and scope. Andrews & Thornton has represented tens of thousands of clients nationwide in mass torts products liability litigation, and we currently specialize in advocating for consumers and advancing the claims of those harmed by dietary supplements, pharmaceutical products, and compounded drugs.

Andrews & Thornton has long appreciated the importance of having an online presence. Blogging provides an additional and highly accessible avenue for professional networking and client and consumer outreach. According to the American Bar Association, “a good number of blogs are providing valuable, meaningful content for Web users, and lawyers (and their blogs) are a big part of this content revolution.”

I look forward to communicating my firm’s expertise and services to a wider online audience and using the “legal blogosphere” as a forum for building long-lasting professional relationships.

Kimberly Dougherty knew from an early age that she wanted to help people. She volunteered for Big Brother Big Sister in college and quickly became passionate about issues facing women and children. Kim then earned a master’s degree in social work and worked in child protective services, but recognized that many people needed more. They needed a legal advocate. That’s when she decided to become an attorney.
Her law practice quickly turned to the people who needed the help most: ones severely injured by corporations who put profits before people. Today, she is a leading attorney in complex pharmaceutical, medical device mass tort, personal injury and medical malpractice litigation.

Kim is a partner and the Managing Attorney of Andrus Wagstaff’s Boston office. She is also a volunteer advocate as Immediate President of the Massachusetts Women’s Bar Association, and has regularly testified at the State House on laws to protect the rights of women and children, and lobbying legislators on those laws, as well as the importance of increasing gender diversity in the judiciary and elected office.

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 pending litigation against Volkswagen on behalf of several thousand plaintiffs who were affected by the German automaker’s recent emissions scandal.

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.

Bridie began speed skating at age six and by age 15 was nationally ranked. Today, she is a public figure and voice for ending child sex abuse.

Bridie competed in the 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2014 USA Olympic Trials in Speed Skating. She is the former Women’s Short Track American Record holder for the 1500m, 3000m, and 3000m relay.
Beginning at age 15, Bridie was sexually abused by speed skating teammate, Olympic Silver medalist Andy Gabel, then 33. In 2013, 15 years after the abuse ended, she disclosed her story of child sexual abuse via the US media.
Bridie founded NY Loves Kids where her work includes advocating for the Child Victims Act in New York State. Passage of The Child Victims Act will extend the statute of limitations for survivors of child sexual abuse. Recently Bridie, along with other survivors including those of Dr. Larry Nassar, testified before the United States Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance and Data Security regarding the inaction of the United States Olympic Committee pertaining to protecting athletes from sexual abuse.

Bridie holds a BS from Cornell University. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner Andrew and their dog, Lexington.