HarrisMartin's Webinar Series: Natural Disaster Litigation - Insurance and Beyond - Winter Storm Uri and Hurricane Sally Speaker Profiles

Jennifer M. Hoekstra is a partner with Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, PLLC. A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Ms. Hoekstra boasts an impressive academic and professional record, including graduation from two of the nation’s top schools. She earned her earned Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science from Columbia College, Columbia University in the City of New York. She relocated to Louisiana to attend Tulane Law School, where she earned her J.D. while also completing a certificate in Environmental Law. During her law school career, she spent a semester studying at the University of Wisconsin School of Law and visited on their International Law Journal as a Junior Member during her Hurricane Katrina evacuation semester.

Samuel “Sam” Geisler, a partner with the firm, focuses his practice primarily in complex civil litigation, including pharmaceutical litigation, such as Xarelto, Onglyza and Proton-Pump Inhibitors; and medical device litigation, including Essure and vaginal mesh. He is among those leading the effort against Skanska USA Civil Southeast on behalf of business owners and individuals who suffered losses as a result of the Pensacola Bay Bridge outage.

Admitted to Practice Law: Ohio 1996, Iowa 2002, Missouri 2016, United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio 1996, United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois 2016, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa 2017, Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals 2004, United States Supreme Court 2005, United States Court of Federal Claims 2012.

Brian Barr is a shareholder at Levin Papantonio. He litigates pharmaceutical, environmental, mass torts and personal injury cases throughout the country. Most recently, Mr. Barr has focused his practice on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Appointed by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana as one of the four members of the Plaintiffs Executive Committee, one of the nineteen members of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, as well as class counsel for both the Economic and Property Damages Settlement Class and the Medical Class, Mr. Barr has been one of the leaders of the massive BP litigation. The litigation has resulted in two multi-billion dollar class action settlement agreements and a proposed class settlement with Halliburton. Mr. Barr was honored to serve as trial counsel for Phase 2 of the Limitation and Liability Trial against BP.

Ms. Lesley Paniszczyn has proven to be a valuable asset since joining the firm in 2012 and currently serves as the firm’s Mass Tort Manager. Ms. Paniszczyn completed her undergraduate studies at Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana and continued on to St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas to pursue her Juris Doctorate. While attending St. Mary’s, Ms. Paniszczyn excelled in her studies and gained invaluable experience working in the areas of personal injury law and criminal law as well as interning in the United States Attorneys Office.

Patrick is an accomplished personal injury and products liability attorney. What sets Patrick apart is that before practicing law, he spent several years as a professor of law. While teaching at Washington & Lee University, Arizona State University, and the University of Oklahoma, Patrick also published extensively on mass torts. Since entering practice, Patrick has obtained a number of significant victories for his clients, including a $15.4 million wrongful death judgment and a precedent-setting decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Aside from helping his clients obtain justice, Patrick enjoys spending time with his wife, children, and the family cat, Sammy Davis Jr., Jr.

The documents in a lawsuit have a story to tell. I provide the conduit between that story and the lawyers looking to find them.

My clients are some of the best storytellers in the world. My mission is to help them "tell better stories." I help them interrogate the documents produced in discovery and find the information need to win the case. I am passionate about assisting them in their fight for justice and against corporate greed and institutional abuses.

I believe that technology can enable lawyers to serve their clients more effectively. I believe technology amplifies the abilities of lawyers; it does not displace them. I believe technology can improve outcomes for clients, not just the lawyers who serve them.