Arvin Maskin

Arvin Maskin is Chair of the Product Liability practice group. He has served as lead counsel in some of the largest mass tort and product liability litigations in the country. Formerly with the US Department of Justice in Washington DC, he was the government's lead counsel in such seminal matters such as the "Agent Orange" litigation.

He has been consistently successful in handling a broad range of domestic and international matters, including the defense, coordination and resolution of product liability, mass tort and consumer fraud litigations, in some cases seeking billions of dollars, involving asbestos, breast implants, food products, industrial chemicals and their by-products, genetic research, lead paint, aircraft, automotive products, electrical and navigation equipment, and pharmaceuticals and medical devices, as well as counseling relating to industrial, consumer and OTC products, FDA, EPA, NHTSA and Consumer Product Safety Act compliance, product recalls (domestic and international), the False Claims Act, the Alien Tort Statute, Congressional investigations, deceptive trade practice claims brought by state attorneys general, corporate acquisitions, product distribution, marketing and labeling, risk avoidance, insurance, internal investigations, food tampering, crisis management and strategic media communications.

Mr. Maskin is often sought in the defense of high-stakes, high-profile mass tort matters. He has been a lead counsel and negotiator in connection with World War II forced and slave labor class actions involving eight different nations, and has served as lead counsel in the defense and resolution of 33 separate state consumer fraud class actions and an MDL concerning some 170 million automobile and light truck tires. He has handled mass tort class actions involving African apartheid-related claims under the Alien Tort Statute, as well as class actions and related consumer fraud and personal injury litigations throughout the country involving the sale of hundreds of thousands of bullet-proof vests, including related suits brought by the U.S. Department of Justice under the False Claims Act seeking hundreds of millions of dollars. He is also a nationally recognized attorney on punitive damages, class actions and multidistrict litigation, as well as the use of science in the courtroom, and has chaired numerous national conferences and has counseled multinational corporations on all aspects of corporate crisis planning and risk avoidance.

Mr. Maskin is a member of the American Law Institute and is a Fellow of the American and New York Bar Foundation. He was a member of the American Law Institute’s Consultative Group for the Restatement of the Law of Torts (Third): Products Liability, and has served as a member of the Institute’s Consultative Group for the Restatement of the Law of Torts: General Principles. He also served as a reviewer for the Manual for Complex Litigation (Third) for the Federal Judicial Center.

Currently, Mr. Maskin is Co-Chairman of the ABA Subcommittee on Complex Torts Committee of the Committee on Corporate Counsel, Litigation Section. He was immediate past co-chairman of the ABA Mass Tort and Product Liability Subcommittee of the Committee on Corporate Counsel. He was also past Chairman of the Toxic and Hazardous Substances and Environmental Law Committee of the Torts and Insurance Practice Section of the ABA. He has been appointed to the Task Force on Mass Torts of the US Chamber of Commerce, and serves as a member of the Boards of Advisors of BNA’s Civil Trial Manual, Toxics Law Reporter and Product Safety & Liability Reporter, Leader Publications Products Liability Law & Strategy, among others. Mr. Maskin also serves as a member of the Legal Policy Advisory Board of the Washington Legal Foundation.

Mr. Maskin has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a "National Litigation Star" in Product Liability (2009-2012) and a "New York Star" in Product Liability (2011 and 2012).

Mr. Maskin’s appointments and memberships include:

* Fellow, American Bar Foundation
* Fellow, New York Bar Foundation
* Member, Legal Policy Advisory Board, Washington Legal Foundation
* Member, Task Force on Mass Torts of the US Chamber of Commerce
* Member, American Law Institute
* Member, ALI’s Consultative Group for The Restatement of the Law of Torts (Third) Products Liability
* Invited commentator for the Manual on Complex Litigation (Third) for the Federal Judicial Center
* Former chairman of the Torts & Insurance Practice Section’s Committee on Toxics & Hazardous Substances and Environmental Law, American Bar Association
* Current co-chairman of the Products Liability Subcommittee of the Committee on Corporate Counsel, Litigation Section, America Bar Association
* Mr. Maskin serves on the Board of Advisors of BNA’s Toxics Law Reporter; BNA’s Products & Safety Liability Reporter; and Leader Publication’s Products Liability Law & Strategy