Chris led the written discovery team for one of the largest mass torts in U.S. history. In that role, he was responsible for all defensive written discovery on behalf of medical device manufacturers, as well as all affirmative discovery directed at plaintiffs. He was also frequently responsible for meeting and conferring with plaintiff’s counsel regarding discovery disputes.

He also served as the coordinating attorney for international mass tort litigations including, but not limited to, actions pending in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, Italy, and the Netherlands. As the coordinating attorney, he liaised with local counsel to facilitate the vigorous defense of lawsuits. He has also served as local counsel in consumer protections lawsuits brought by the Mississippi Attorney General, which involved the sale, marketing and promotion of medical devices and pharmaceutical products. As local counsel, Chris coordinated with national counsel on strategy and case management, and he has prepared and defended multiple depositions of company witnesses.

Chris has first and second chair jury trial experience in federal and state courts, and he has served on trial preparation and trial support teams in various mass tort litigations. In that role, he has supported trials in courts throughout the country including but not limited to the trial of a consumer protection lawsuit brought by the California Attorney General, which involved multiple medical devices. He also supported the trial team in Cavness v. Kowalczyk et al., Case No. DC-14-04220, District Court for the 95th Judicial District, Dallas County Texas, a product liability action involving pelvic mesh which resulted in a defense verdict and was one of Law360’s 2015 Product Liability Trials to Watch. The verdict was named as one of CVN’s Top 10 Defense Verdicts of 2015.

Chris is active in a number of professional organizations, including Defense Research Institute (2021 Programming Chair and 2020 Publications Chair for the Complex Medicine/Experts Specialized Litigation Group (SLG) of the DRI Drug and Medical Device Committee), International Association of Defense Counsel (2021 Vice-Chair of Communications, Drug, Device, & Biotechnology Committee), among others. He frequently speaks and writes on product liability litigation topics. As an example, he recently spoke on privilege and liability associated with E-Discovery at the 2021 American Bar Association Current Issues in Pharmaceutical Medical Device, and Biotech Litigation Virtual Regional CLE. He also co-authored a chapter on Louisiana local class action requirements for the second and third editions of the American Bar Association’s A Practitioner’s Guide to Class Actions.

He obtained his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Mississippi and B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Memphis. He is admitted to practice in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana.