Mayer Brown Reloads Mass Tort Team, Hiring WilmerHale Partners

Mayer Brown has reloaded its mass torts practice by hiring partners Davina Pujari and Chris Rheinheimer from WilmerHale.

The additions in San Francisco come after Mayer Brown in June lost a five-partner mass torts team to Jenner & Block, part of a broader hiring push in the practice area at some Big Law firms this year.

Davina Pujari

Pujari focuses on environmental and white collar defense, class and mass actions, False Claims Act litigation and crisis management. Rheinheimer represents clients in complex environmental, energy and real-estate litigation, class and mass actions, False Claims Act matters and state and federal enforcement defense.

Companies are confronting an “ever-more sophisticated and well-funded” environmental plaintiffs’ bar, Pujari said in an interview.

“That means greater exposure for companies in the putative class-action and mass torts space,” she said. “Mayer Brown’s commitment to its environmental and mass tort practice is what drew us here and we’re excited to get started.”

Pujari and Rheinheimer joined Wilmer in 2022 from California firm Hanson Bridgett. They defended Norfolk Southern Railway Co. against a lawsuit over the derailment of one of its trains in East Palestine, Ohio, in 2023.

Chris Rheinheimer

The pair represent environmental engineering company Tetra Tech Inc. in a lawsuit scheduled for trial in December arising from its work remediating radioactive waste at a Navy shipyard in San Francisco.

Michael Olsen, leader of Mayer Brown’s litigation and dispute resolution practice, cited the duo’s “extensive trial experience and deep knowledge of environmental and mass tort matters.”