HarrisMartin’s Opioid Litigation Conference: The Case Against the Wholesalers Speaker Profiles



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 Paul J. Hanly Jr., Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, New York Show/Hide Bio

Co-Chair Paul J. Hanly Jr.

As a named shareholder of Simmons Hanly Conroy, Mr. Hanly is an experienced trial lawyer and litigator who has litigated, managed and tried numerous complex jury cases throughout the United States in virtually all areas of civil litigation for more than 30 years. He is renowned for his exhaustive trial preparation, imaginative trial strategies, nearly photographic memory of the contents of documents and tightly controlled and disarmingly-effective cross-examinations.

For the first 20 years of his career, Mr. Hanly was lead national trial, coordinating and settlement counsel to the world’s largest asbestos company in its asbestos products liability cases; in that capacity he oversaw more than 100 local law firms and handled hundreds of thousands of cases.

In the last two decades, Mr. Hanly has represented plaintiffs exclusively in a variety of mass tort and other complex civil cases and played a leading role in the settlement of thousands of pharmaceutical cases, resulting in recoveries for the firm’s clients in excess of $1 Billion. Mr. Hanly has also represented plaintiffs in financial class actions and mass sex abuse cases. Recently, Mr. Hanly was named as Co-Lead counsel in the national opioid litigation that is pending in Cleveland, Ohio involving claims on behalf of municipalities from across the nation against the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioid pain medicines; this federal multidistrict litigation is regarded as the largest and most complex litigation in U.S. history.

Sarah Burns, Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, Alton, IL

Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, San Francisco

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

Paul Thomas Farrell Jr., Greene, Ketchum, Farrell, Bailey & Tweel LLP, Huntington, WV

Laura L. Fitzpatrick, Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, New York

Michael J. Fuller, McHugh Fuller Law Group, Hattiesburg, MS

Paul J. Geller, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, Boca Raton, FL

Anne McGinness Kearse, Motley Rice LLC, Mount Pleasant, SC

Rick Kroeger, Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, Alton, IL

Burton LeBlanc, Baron & Budd, P.C., Baton Rouge, LA

Peter Mougey, Levin Papantonio, Pensacola, FL

Amy J. Quezon, McHugh Fuller Law Group, Hattiesburg, MS

Joseph F. Rice, Motley Rice LLC, Mount Pleasant, SC

Hunter J. Shkolnik, Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, New York

Jennifer Scullion, SeegerWeiss LLP, New York

Peter H. Weinberger, Spangenberg Shibley & Liber LLP, Cleveland