Jones

Frequently called upon to assemble teams and manage both coordinated proceedings and individual plaintiff cases, Alyson represents pharmaceutical and medical device companies in product liability litigation across the country. “Alyson marshals the assets of her team efficiently and works incredibly well with others.” Chambers USA, which ranked Alyson for nationwide Product Liability & Mass Torts (2026). The Legal 500 US, which ranked Alyson as a Leading Partner (2026) and Next Generation Partner (2018-2025), stated in its 2025 editorial that she has “considerable MDL experience,” “continues to impress as the result of her aptitude at handling coordinated proceedings and individual plaintiff cases,” and is “attuned to understanding the underlying business implications.”

• Drug & Device Litigation
• Tort, Transportation & Specialized Litigation
• Groundwater & Chemical Exposure Litigation
• Mass Torts

Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare

When product liability litigation evolves into a nationwide mass tort or multidistrict litigation, companies need more than courtroom advocates. They need strategic counsel who understands how litigation impacts business operations, regulatory obligations, financial performance, and corporate reputation.

Alyson Bustamante Jones has built her career guiding pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical device companies, and consumer product companies through some of the country’s most complex and high-profile product liability and mass tort proceedings. She represents clients in coordinated state and federal litigation across the United States, helping them navigate every phase of litigation—from early case assessment and risk analysis through dispositive motions, bellwether proceedings, and trial preparation.

Alyson is particularly recognized for her ability to lead large, multidisciplinary defense teams and coordinate litigation strategies across jurisdictions. She has served in numerous court-appointed and leadership roles in multidistrict litigation and other consolidated proceedings, overseeing litigation strategy, local counsel coordination, discovery management, expert development, and defense efforts involving thousands of claims. Her recent experience includes serving as national counsel for a medical device manufacturer in litigation pending across multiple jurisdictions, securing summary judgment that was affirmed on appeal and obtaining a fee award for her client.

A distinguishing feature of Alyson’s practice is her firsthand understanding of the business realities her clients face. Earlier in her career, she spent three years on secondment with a major pharmaceutical company, working as part of its in-house legal team. That experience gave her direct insight into how large-scale litigation affects corporate decision-making, operations, risk management, and long-term business objectives. Today, she brings that perspective to every engagement, helping clients develop practical, business-focused solutions rather than litigation strategies in isolation.

As Practice Group Leader of Butler Snow’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Group, Alyson advises clients facing significant product liability, mass tort, and MDL exposure. Companies frequently engage her early in the life cycle of litigation to evaluate risk, develop coordinated defense strategies, control costs, and position matters for successful resolution.

Alyson’s work has earned national recognition from Chambers USA, The Legal 500 US, Lawdragon 500, Best Lawyers in America, and Forbes America’s Best-In-State Lawyers, among others. Industry publications and clients alike have recognized her for her leadership in complex litigation, her management of coordinated proceedings, and her ability to align litigation strategy with broader business objective.

MDL and Mass Tort Management

• Coolsculpting® Litigation (National Counsel), including:
  • Silverstein v. Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc., 235 A.D.3d 604 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2025), reversal of denial of summary judgment and dismissal of all claims.
  • Cates v. Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc., Case No. 6:19-cv-01670-PGB-LRH, U.S.D.C. (M.D. Fla.), summary judgment based on adequate labeling; affirmed by the 11th Circuit 73 F.4th 1342 (11th Cir. 2023), cert. denied, 144 S. Ct. 526 (2023), “11th Circ. Freezes CoolSculpting User’s Product Liability Suit,” Law360, July 24, 2023
• In re: Acetaminophen-ASD-ADHD Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3043, S.D.N.Y. (Key member of the defense team responsible for assisting with the defense of company witnesses)
• In re: Propecia® (Finasteride) Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2331, E.D.N.Y. (Co-Lead Counsel). 
• In re: Propecia® Litigation, Case No. 623, Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division: Middlesex County (Co-Lead Counsel).
• In re: Tylenol® (Acetaminophen) Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2436, E.D. Pa. (Defense Liaison Counsel).

Trial Team Support

• Jackson v. McNeil-PPC, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson, Inc., No. ATL-L-880-13, Superior Court of New Jersey, Atlantic County: Tried in September 2015 involving Extra Strength Tylenol® - defense verdict; obtained summary judgment dismissing punitive damages.
• Sessner v. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division, Atlantic County: Second New Jersey bellwether product liability case involving prescription drug Fosamax®; defense verdict, 2012.
• Maley v. Merck Sharpe & Dohme Corp., No. 1:06-cv-04110-JFK, S.D.N.Y., 2010: Second bellwether MDL trial in the Fosamax® litigation.
• Boles v. Merck & Co., Inc., No. 1:06-cv-09455-JFK, USDC SDNY, 2009: First bellwether MDL trial in the Fosamax® litigation.
• Brierton Johnson v. Johnson & Johnson, et al., No. TC 018540 - Los Angeles Superior Court in Malibu, 2008:  California trial involving first product liability case in connection with Children’s Motrin® and Stevens-Johnson syndrome. 
• Kozic v. Merck & Co., Inc., No. 03-9248, Hillsborough County Circuit Court, Florida, 2007 (Vioxx® Litigation).
• Cona v. Merck & Co., Inc., No. ATL-L-3553-05-MT -- Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division: Atlantic County, New Jersey, 2006 (Vioxx® Litigation).
• McDarby v. Merck & Co., Inc., No. ATL-L-1296- 05-MT-- Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division:  Atlantic County, New Jersey, 2006 (Vioxx® Litigation). 
• Albright v. Merck & Co., Inc., No. CV-05-02316 -- Jefferson County Circuit Court, Alabama, 2006 (Vioxx® Litigation).
• Humeston v. Merck & Co., Inc., No. ATL-L-2272-03-MT -- Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division: Atlantic County, New Jersey, 2005 (Vioxx® Litigation).

Additional Experience

• Client Secondment, January 2010 – 2013
• Hunter v. Covin, et al., Forrest County – Second chair in three-day jury trial.

• Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
  • Product Liability & Mass Torts – Nationwide, 2025-2026
• The Legal 500 U.S.
  • Leading Partner, 2026
  • Next Generation Partner, 2018-2025
• Lawdragon, 500 Leading Litigators in America, Pharmaceutical & Medical Device, Class Action, 2022, 2024-2026
• BL Rankings, The Best Lawyers in America®
  • Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2018-2026
• Forbes®
  • America’s Best-In-State Lawyers, Class Action/Mass Tort, Mississippi, 2025
• Law360
  • Rising Star – Life Sciences, 2019
• 2017 PORTICO 10
• Graduate, International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC) Trial Academy, Stanford Law School
• Thomson Reuters Super Lawyers®
  • Mid-South Super Lawyers, Personal Injury – Products: Defense, 2013-2015, 2017-2020, 2025
  • Mid-South Rising Stars, Personal Injury – Products: Defense, 2010-2012
• Top 40 Under 40, Mississippi Business Journal, 2014
• Mississippi Bar Leadership Class, 2014
• Life Sciences Star, LMG Life Sciences
• Who's Who Legal
  • Thought Leaders - USA - Life Sciences - Product Liability, 2023
  • Life Sciences - Product Liability, 2020-2022
• Benchmark Litigation
  • Future Star, 2025

• Mississippi, 2004
• Tennessee, 2004
• U.S. District Courts
• Mississippi: Northern, Southern
• Tennessee: Eastern, Middle, Western

• University of Tennessee, J.D., cum laude, 2004
  • Research Editor, Tennessee Law Review
• University of Mississippi, B.A., English and Spanish, cum laude, 2001

• Emory University Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims
  • Next Generation Emerging Leaders, Board of Directors, 2017
• Rabiei Litigation Law Center Lawyers and Other Legal Experts Advisory Council
• American Bar Association
• Defense Research Institute (DRI)
• International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC)
• Capital Area Bar Association
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• Mississippi Bar Association
• Tennessee Bar Association

• Speaker, Discovery Issues Unique to Mass-Tort MDLs Bench-Bar Leadership Summit, Rabiei Litigation Law Center, Charleston, SC, March 13, 2025.
• Speaker, "Steering Committee Appointment Process," Advanced Strategy Mass-Tort MDL Certificate Course, GW Certificate Course, February 24, 2022.
• Speaker, Emory University Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims Rising Stars Conference, Atlanta, GA, January 2018.
• Co-Author, “Physician Depositions: Who Goes First?," Pro Te: Solutio, Vol. 10 No. 3 (2017).
• Author, “Off-Label Promotion: Is It Free Speech?” Pro Te: Solutio, Vol. 7, No. 4, December 2014.
• Author, "Document Preservation Notices and the Lists of Who Receive Them: Are They Discoverable?," Pro Te: Solutio, Vol. 5, No 4 (November 2012).
• Author, "Update on Tort Reform Caps: Are They Constitutional?" Pro Te: Solutio, Vol. 3 No. 3, 6-7 (August 2010).
• Author, "Mississippi Tort Reform Faces Judicial Nullification Effort," Legal Opinion Letter, Washington Legal Foundation, February 12, 2010.
• Co-Author, "To Catch A Thief," Defense Research Institute, Drug and Device Seminar.
• Author, "Case Law: Sales Representatives, Diversity Jurisdiction and Fraudulent Joinder: Where do the Courts Stand,"  Pro Te: Solutio,  Vol. 2 No. 3, 13 (July 2009).
• Author, "Limiting Adverse Verdicts: Tort Reform in Mississippi," Pro Te: Solutio, Vol. 1 No. 4, 2-5 (October 2008).
• Author, "Navigating Through the Serious Implications of an FDA Warning Letter," Pro Te: Solutio, Vol. 1 No. 2, 12-17 (April 2008).
• Speaker, Mississippi Dental Society Annual Meeting.

• Friends of Children's Hospital, Board of Directors, 2013-2019
• Century Club Charities, Board of Directors, 2015-2017
• UMMC Cancer Center Committee, 2024-Present
• Global Leadership Mentor Program, Jackson Preparatory School, 2015, 2023
• Ole Miss Women’s Council Mentor, 2023-Present