Jenner & Block Adds Mayer Brown Mass Torts Group With PFAS Focus

Jenner & Block has hired a five-lawyer team of mass torts and products liability lawyers from Mayer Brown, led by partners Richard Bulger and Daniel Ring, who have handled PFAS cases for 3M Co. across the country.

Bulger and Ring will co-chair Jenner’s mass torts and products liability practice alongside current Jenner partners Dean Panos and Joanna Wright, the firm said in a statement Tuesday. The team has represented 3M in multiple jurisdictions. Ring last month entered an appearance on 3M’s behalf in a case brought by California alleging that PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” affected drinking water in San Francisco.

The lawyers said they were drawn to Jenner to team up with a group of lawyers they had worked with in previous cases. Jenner’s decision to fight an executive order issued by President Donald Trump also encouraged Bulger and Ring to join the firm, they said. “This principle that lawyers should be able to represent their clients without government interference is really important,” Bulger said in an interview.

The hires highlight how Jenner and other Big Law firms have been investing in the mass torts space this year. Kirkland & Ellis hired mass tort litigator Allison Brown and a team of lawyers from Skadden in January and added a 20-plus lawyer King & Spalding team in May.

Priya Desai is also joining Jenner as a partner, while Tyler Alfermann and Daniel Rottenberg are joining as special counsel.

“We wish our former colleagues well,” a Mayer Brown spokesman said in a statement.

Wright, a Jenner partner who advised 3M on a $6 billion settlement in its Combat Arms earplugs litigation, said law firms are investing in the multi-district litigation space as they create a new level “enterprise risk” for companies. The issues often involve other practices, including state attorneys general, class action, and appellate groups, she said.

“The reason top-flight and top-tier firms, including Jenner, are investing in this space is because these are extremely complicated problems,” Wright said.

Multi-District Litigation

Ring said the moves by large firms are a response to the “growing investment” by the plaintiffs’ bar in contamination claims, including groundwater cases. “From the defense bar’s perspective, and particularly here at Jenner, it’s a recognition that we want to be able to serve clients across the board,” he said.

Jenner has been co-counsel with the Mayer Brown team on previous PFAS cases, Bulger and Ring said. “Our skillsets are compatible and complementary to combining forces to make a real one-stop shop for our clients in this space,” Bulger said.

From left to right: Daniel Ring (practice co-chair), Richard Bulger (practice co-chair), Priya Desai (partner), Daniel Rottenberg (special counsel) and Tyler Alfermann (special counsel).

Credit: Firm handout

Ring has also represented 3M in a massive MDL related to a specialized fire suppressant that has attracted more than 10,000 personal injury, drinking water utility compensation, and natural resource and property damage claims.

Jenner in May defeated in court an executive order issued by Trump that targeted the firm’s ability to represent clients in front of the federal government. “We really admire the way Jenner has approached it and we’re really proud to be part of a place that really tackles those problems head on,” Ring said.