Lori B. Leskin serves as co-chair of the firm’s Consumer Products Practice Group. She is valued by her clients for her ability to successfully assess, strategize, and implement unique solutions to unique problems.
Named “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers, Lori has over 30 years of experience representing consumer product and pharmaceutical companies as national, strategic, and trial counsel in mass and class action litigation across the country. She handles all aspects of litigation strategy for complex nationwide and multidistrict litigations involving a variety of products, including consumer electronics, cosmetics, personal care products, food and beverage products, and pharmaceutical products, among others.
Lori has successfully defended against disputes involving consumer fraud and other class actions on behalf of numerous clients, including Hain Celestial Group, The Avon Company, and Coty Inc., in the Southern District of New York and other venues throughout the country. She was named a “Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal for successfully representing Coty, Inc., Shiseido Company, and McDonald’s Corporation, in the first PFAS cases filed against the cosmetics and fast-food industries. She is currently representing Bayer Corporation and Pfizer Inc. as national counsel in several on-going product liability litigations.
In addition to her work in mass and class actions, Lori has represented death row inmates in challenges to convictions and sentences, including the commuted death sentence of Virginia inmate Percy Levar Walton to life in prison without parole on the grounds that he was mentally incompetent to understand his situation. For her work with death row inmates, Lori was one of four firm recipients of the Thurgood Marshall Award for Capital Representation from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York's Committee on Capital Punishment.
Experience
- Pfizer, as national counsel in defending against nationwide claims that its talc was contaminated with asbestos.
- Bayer, as lead counsel in MDL alleging that its fluoroquinolone antibiotics cause peripheral neuropathy and aortic aneurysm/dissection. In re: Fluoroquinolone Products Liability Litigation (D. Minn.)
- Strength of Nature, as lead counsel in MDL and related state court actions alleging that use of hair relaxer products cause uterine and other cancers. In re: Hair Relaxer Marketing, Sales Practice and Product Liability Litigation (N.D. IL)
- Pfizer, as lead and national counsel in nationwide litigation alleging its prescription product, Viagra®, causes various injuries, including heart attack, ischemic optic neuropathy and melanoma.
Perspectives
Recognition
Product Liability Litigation: Defendants (NY) (2009-2025)
“Lawyers of the Year” Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions: Defendants (NY) (2022, 2024)
"Life Sciences Star" Non-IP Litigation (2012-2016)
Credentials
Education
- J.D., Rutgers Law School, 1992, highest honors, Order of the Coif, Anthony Englebrecht Prize
- B.A., American University, 1988, magna cum laude, University honors with high distinction, Phi Kappa Phi
Admissions
- New York
- New Jersey
- District of Columbia
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Supreme Court of New Jersey
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey