Introduction
With more than 160 attorneys actively
engaged in all aspects of business, commercial and product liability matters litigation, Dykema has one of the most
experienced, sophisticated and successful litigation and trial practices
in the nation. Our litigators are experienced in representing a diverse
client base in nearly every substantive area of the law, through trial
and appeal. In addition to our practice in state and federal courts throughout the country, we also represent clients in
administrative proceedings, arbitration tribunals and other alternative
dispute resolution forums.
At Dykema, our litigators are dedicated to the aggressive and
efficient prosecution and defense of our clients' disputes. We believe
in comprehensive yet cost-effective discovery and case preparation with
active client involvement at all stages, including the trial and
appellate levels. Through our sophisticated computer network, every
litigator - regardless of location - draws upon the resources of the
entire firm to address clients' legal concerns. Our computer systems
include innovative case management software, our proprietary expert
witness database, a robust and cost sensitive
discovery management
solution, and an extensive work product retrieval system which enables
us to provide our services as efficiently as possible. Our outstanding
appellate practice not only defends the
victories obtained by our own trial lawyers, but is also called upon by
many clients for the first time when matters reach the critical appellate stage.
Dykema litigators have successfully handled virtually every type of
civil dispute, including those involving complex, high dollar commercial
and contract matters, class actions, real estate, partnership, trade
secrets, non-compete agreements, financial services and insurance,
antitrust, dealer and franchise matters, licenses, trademark and
intellectual property, products liability, premises liability, and
complex tort claims. Dykema litigators represent entities such as municipalities and insurers in a wide variety of personal injury and commercial matters, including coverage disputes. We also focus on professional liability litigation matters on behalf of physicians, hospitals and other health care entities. Among many other representations, Dykema is the
nationally recognized litigation counsel for Fortune-ranked
pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing companies, in addition
to serving as national science and expert development counsel for a
major global pharmaceutical company. We also serve as national or
regional class action defense counsel for multiple companies, including
some of the largest financial institutions in the country.
For the convenience of our clients, our litigators are organized into
several substantive practice areas: (1) Automotive and Product
Liability; (2) Business and Commercial; (3) Employment; (4) Financial
Services; (5) General; (6) intellectual property; and (7) Pharmaceutical
and Medical Device. While many of our trial lawyers specialize in one or
more substantive area, there is also considerable cross-specialty
collaboration geographically and across practice groups.
Automotive and
Product Liability (A&PL): Dykema has a
deep and wide automotive litigation practice, which has evolved alongside
the domestic auto industry since the firm's Detroit office opened in
1926. The A&PL practice group handles commercial disputes, class actions
and product liability matters for OEMs and suppliers, including domestic,
Asian and European manufacturers. We have roles as national, regional,
specialty, and discovery counsel for a number of the largest OEMS, and we
are one of the few firms in the U.S. that has tried class action cases
for OEMs in recent years. We defend cases involving all types of
products, often involving catastrophic injuries. Notably, we recently
obtained a $40 million jury verdict for Chrysler in a hard fought
supplier cost recovery dispute.
Business and Commercial Litigation: Dykema is also well known
for its business and commercial litigation. For decades, we have been
“go-to” counsel in such areas as anti-trust, breach of
contract; shareholder disputes; breach of fiduciary duty matters,
supplier, dealer and franchise disputes; and business dissolutions. For
example, Dykema's antitrust and trade regulation practice is composed of
a team of lawyers who have litigated a number of precedent-setting cases
involving such issues as tying, price fixing, monopolization, dealer
termination, price discrimination and mergers throughout the country. Our
business litigators work hand-in-hand with lawyers in our corporate
finance practice group to address complex business disputes both in and
out of the courtroom. Similar arrangements are in place to handle patent
and trademark litigation, real estate litigation, employment
discrimination cases; and class action defense, including securities
class actions, consumer class actions, and products liability class
actions.
Employment: Dykema has perhaps the region’s most sophisticated
employment litigation practices. Representing management, we are
actively involved in the litigation of all employment-related matters
and regularly represent clients in the federal district and appellate
courts. The size and resources of our group enable us to respond rapidly
to clients' immediate needs, such as negotiations, administrative
proceedings, union organization, strikes and picketing.
Financial Services: Dykema's Financial Services litigation
group represents banks, finance companies, mortgage lenders, credit card
providers and insurance companies in both the defense and prosecution of
consumer and commercial lending and insurance disputes; including the
defense of consumer class actions. Dykema is one of the very few firms
with nationwide class action defense practices substantially devoted to
the defense of mortgage lenders and lenders generally. Approximately 40
attorneys concentrate on consumer financial services. Those attorneys,
along with other members of our litigation group, represent over 70
banks, mortgage companies, credit card companies and auto finance
companies. We counsel and defend clients in putative class actions, and
on various federal and state laws affecting consumer lending. Among
other significant cases, our litigators recently defeated a putative
class action brought against the nation’s largest reverse mortgage
lender where the allegations were featured in a network “Newsmagazine.”
Intellectual Property. Dykema’s intellectual property
litigation team includes lawyers whose
practices are substantially devoted to the defense or prosecution of
litigation arising out of patent, trademark, copyright, licensing,
internet-based and other technology disputes, and includes litigation
involving trade secret and unfair competition claims, false advertising,
publicity rights, and intellectual property transfers.
Pharmaceutical and Medical Device: Dykema handles some of the
most sophisticated work for the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers,
including the handling of science and expert development teams for
nationwide litigation involving a number of different products.
We represent pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers and blood
products suppliers in personal injury litigation, commercial litigation,
and class actions, as well as intellectual property disputes. Our
pharmaceutical, commercial, and A&PL groups also include a successful
cross-department aviation litigation team that represents
insurers and equipment manufacturers in various types of aviation
litigation, including air carrier crashes.
Our litigators receive top marks from judges, peers, adversaries,
and, most importantly, our clients. We are consistently recognized by
corporate board directors, preeminent legal referral sources, and
leading industry publications.
For more information on our Litigation practice, please contact:
Peter M. Kellett, Director 313-568-6668