Ellen Relkin

PARTNER and PRACTICE GROUP CHAIR

Biography

Practicing for three dozen years representing people injured by dangerous products — including medications, medical devices, and toxic chemicals — I have observed a terrible unifying theme. Manufacturing corporations fail to do the right thing: whether it be inadequately testing the product before releasing it on the market (and in our clients’ bodies); failing to adequately warn consumers and workers of the risks; and, most egregiously, deferring corrective action because that would impact their bottom line. All these failures sadly boil down to the defendants’ concern for profits over safety. I have had the pleasure of representing thousands of wonderful clients and it is heartbreaking to see how many lives have been devastated by the defendants’ conduct. Every day, I am grateful that I can help clients obtain compensation for the wrongs they have suffered.

Ms. Relkin, whose practice focuses on medical device and pharmaceutical product liability, as well as toxic tort matters, has represented thousands of plaintiffs injured by defective medical products for more than three decades. She has been appointed by numerous federal and state judges to serve as the leadership counsel running large, consolidated litigations.

She was most recently appointed as co-lead counsel in the multidistrict litigation In Re: Exactech Polyethylene Orthopedics Product Liability Litigation in the Eastern District of New York. She is co-lead counsel of the In Re: JUUL Labs, Inc. Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, where she helped negotiate settlements on behalf of consumers and government entities of over $500 million dollars with defendants for their conduct in creating a vaping epidemic. She has served as the co-lead counsel of the In Re: DePuy ASR multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of Ohio, resulting in a global settlement. She played a key role in negotiating settlements exceeding $2.5 billion. She also served as court appointed co-lead counsel in the In Re: Farxiga (Dapagliflozin) Products Liability Litigation that was venued in the Southern District of New York.

On the state court front, she has been court-appointed lead and liaison counsel in the New Jersey state court multicounty litigations: In Re: Stryker Rejuvenate & ABG II Modular Hip Implant Litigation; In Re: Stryker LFit CoCr V49 Femoral Heads Litigation; and, previously, in the In Re: Yaz Product Liability Litigation. In addition to roles as lead counsel of litigations, she has been court appointed to the Executive Committees in the multidistrict litigations, In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation; In Re: Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Products Liability Litigation, In Re: Invokana (Canagliflozin) Products Liability Litigation; and In Re: Ortho Evra Product Liability Litigation.

Ms. Relkin, who is Certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Civil Trial Attorney, is an elected member of the American Law Institute, as well as the Summit Council, and an invited member of the American Bar Foundation. She also serves on the Board of Advisors of the RAND Kenneth R. Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation. She is an active member of the American Association for Justice (past chair of its Toxic, Environmental, and Pharmaceutical Torts section); the New Jersey Trial Lawyers Association, where she serves on the Board of Governors and is co-chair of its Mass Tort Committee; and the New Jersey and New York Bar Associations, and the American Bar Association. She is also former President of the Roscoe Pound Civil Justice Institute, now known as the National Civil Justice Institute. She is a frequent lecturer nationally at continuing legal education programs.

She has published law review articles in the Cardozo Law Review and the Dickinson Journal of Environmental Law and Policy; the chapter on Failure to Warn in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Mass Tort Litigation in the treatise New Jersey Mass Torts and Class Action published by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education; and numerous other legal publications.

She has been consistently named as a ”Super Lawyer” in both New York and New Jersey for the past several years, “Best Lawyer” in New York, and has been AV rated by Martindale Hubble for more than two decades.

Ellen Relkin can be reached directly by email at [email protected] and by phone at 212-558-5715.

Key Verdicts and Settlements

  • $13.5 Million (2006; W&L secures verdict in N.J. Vioxx trial)
  • $2.5 Billion (2014; Global Resolution Negotiated in the DePuy ASR MDL; Settlement Negotiation Team)
  • $1.5 Billion (2014 and 2017; Global Resolution Reached in Lawsuits Over Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Failed Hips; Settlement Negotiation Team)
  • Multimillion Dollar (2018; Global Settlement Reached in the Stryker LFIT V40 Litigation; Settlement Negotiation Team)
  • $500 Million+ (2023; Global Settlement Reached in the JUUL Labs, Inc. Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, Co-Lead Counsel)

Honors

  • Grade of AV® Preeminent™ (She scored 5.0 out of a possible 5.0 total points when evaluated by Martindale Hubbell’s rigorous peer-review methodology.)
  • Super Lawyer Metro New York and New Jersey
  • New Jersey Association for Justice Gerald B. O’Connor Award for Professionalism – 2018
  • American Association for Justice Marie Lampert given in recognition of exemplary leadership to the profession – 2019

Speaking Engagements

  • 4/27/2023: Program co-chair at the Mass Tort Session New Jersey Association for Justice Boardwalk Seminar 2023.
  • 4/27/2023: “Hot Topics in Mass Torts” at the Mass Tort Session New Jersey Association for Justice Boardwalk Seminar 2023.
  • 4/12/2023: “Nuts and Bolts of Mass Torts: The Road to MDL Leadership and Why It Matters” panel at Mass Torts Made Perfect, Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • 4/13/2023: “Mass Torts Projects: Exactech Hip, Knee, and Ankle Recall Litigation Update” panel at Mass Torts Made Perfect, Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • 3/8/2023: “Tips and Developments in Product Liability Law” webinar for New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education.
  • 10/12/2022: “Business of Law: From Leadership Development Committee to MDL Leadership” panel at Mass Torts Made Perfect, Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • 10/12/2022: “Nuts and Bolts of Mass Torts: From Leadership Development Committee to MDL Leadership” panel at Mass Torts Made Perfect, Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • 7/15/2022: “General Discovery in Coordinated Mass Tort” panel at American Association for Justice, Seattle, Washington.
  • 4/13/2022: Harris Martin’s Webinar Series: Update on Exactech Hip, Knee and Ankle Recall.
  • 4/5/2022: “Nuts and Bolts of Mass Torts: Managing Large Case Dockets and SOL” panel at Mass Torts Made Perfect, Las Vegas, Nevada.
  • 6/30/2021: Program co-chair at the Mass Tort Session New Jersey Association for Justice Boardwalk Seminar 2021. Digital Experience.
  • 8/6/2020: Program co-chair at the Mass Tort Session New Jersey Association for Justice Boardwalk Seminar 2020. Digital Experience.
  • 7/27/2020: “JUUL and E-cigarettes” at Hot Topics in Mass Tort Litigation, American Association for Justice online seminar.
  • 7/27/2019: “Rethinking Multijurisdictional Coordination of Complex Mass Torts” panel discussion at Pound Civil Justice Institute Aggregate Litigation in State Courts: Preserving Vital Mechanisms forum. San Diego, California.
  • 7/26/2019: “Everything You Want To Know About Mass Torts (But Are Too Afraid To Ask)” at American Association for Justice seminar. San Diego, California.
  • 5/9/2019: “Mass Tort, From the Beginning to the End: New Jersey Mass Tort Update” at Boardwalk Seminar 2019. Sponsored by the New Jersey Association for Justice, Atlantic City, NJ.
  • 5/2/2019: “Mastering Mass Tort Settlements” panel at American Bar Association Section of Litigation, New York, New York.
  • 11/16/2018: “New Jersey Law on Expert Evidence: What You Need to Know After the Accutane Decision” at 2018 Mass Torts Seminar. Sponsored by the New Jersey Association for Justice. East Rutherford, New Jersey.
  • 5/16/2018: “Inside the Opium (Legal) Wars.” Annual Meeting, New Jersey State Bar Association. Atlantic City, New Jersey.
  • 5/10/ 2018: New Jersey’s key MDL and MCL cases at Boardwalk Seminar 2018. Sponsored by the New Jersey Association for Justice. Atlantic City, New Jersey.
  • 4/27/2017:, “Jurisprudential Legacy of the Honorable Carol Higbee” at Boardwalk Seminar 2017. Sponsored by the New Jersey Association for Justice. Atlantic City, New Jersey.
  • 4/3/2017: “Personal Jurisdiction Issues in Mass Torts.” HB Litigation Conferences’ Mass Torts Judicial Forum, New York City.
  • 2/10/2017: “Emerging Torts.” 2017 Texas Trial Lawyers Association Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Seminar. The Westin Austin at The Domain, Austin, Texas.
  • 8/25/2016: “ADR for Complex Claims: Choosing and Using the Most Effective Resolution Instruments.” LexisNexis Webinar on Medical Device ADR.
  • 4/7/2016: “Mass Tort Plaintiffs’ and Defendants’ Perspectives” at Boardwalk Seminar 2016. Sponsored by the New Jersey Association for Justice.
  • 10/2/2015: Featured speaker at American Bar Association Section of Litigation, Products Liability seminar panel discussion.
  • 9/28/2015: A Street Car Named Desire…Mass torts are like street cars, a new one comes every 10 minutes – the importance of (and factors to consider when) vetting a tort and your cases at Women En Mass in Aspen, Colorado.
  • 3/25/2015: Xarelto Case Selection and Criteria at the HarrisMartin MDL Conference: Xarelto, Morcellators and Emerging Torts in San Diego. California.
  • 2/18/2015: Failure to Warn in Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Mass Tort Litigation: The PLA and Common Law at The New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NJICLE) seminar on Multicounty (Mass Tort) Litigation in New Jersey.
  • 4/2/2014: HarrisMartin’s Mass Tort Litigation Conference session on Settlement v. Trial — Coordination, Conflicts & Committees in New York City.
  • 5/1/2014: Mass Tort Case Law Review at the New Jersey Association for Justice Boardwalk annual convention.
  • 5/1/2014: DePuy Hip and Stryker Rejuvenate litigations at the New Jersey Association for Justice Boardwalk annual convention.
  • 1/28/14: Presented on Mass Tort Litigation in New Jersey along with esteemed jurists and practitioners. The program was sponsored by The N.J. Institute for Continuing Legal Education, a division of the N.J. State Bar Association.
  • 3/11/13: HarrisMartin Mass Tort Litigation Conference with Judge Marina Corodemus (Ret.). See agenda.
  • 9/26/11: Harrismartin’s MDL Conference: Current Issues in Multi District Litigation Practice – Loews Philadelphia Hotel.
  • 6/10: Speaker at Mass Torts Judicial Forum: Joins Tort Judges, Acclaimed Special Master at Conference
  • 6/28/10: Presenter at the Mass Torts Judicial Forum in Philadelphia. Participated in a discussion on expert witness testimony and medical causation proofs in this one-day seminar that includes presentations from a number of leading mass-tort judges and attorneys.

Get the Help You Need Today

Free Case Review