Weitz & Luxenberg Practice Group Co-Chair Ellen Relkin has been selected by the New Jersey Association for Justice (NJAJ) to receive the prestigious Gerald B. O’Connor Award, which honors trial attorneys that demonstrate skill, creativity, and professionalism in their work. She will be presented with the award at the NJAJ’s first annual awards dinner on March 1, 2018 in Somerset, New Jersey.
“We are proud to congratulate Ellen on this tremendous honor,” said Arthur Luxenberg, co-founder of Weitz & Luxenberg. “Ellen’s skill and success as a trial attorney is undeniable — her dedication to her clients has made her one of the top trial attorneys in her field.”
Ms. Relkin serves as Co-Chair of Weitz & Luxenberg’s Drug and Medical Device Litigation practice group, where she has worked for thousands of patients injured by defective medical products and medications with dangerous side effects.
“I am grateful to the NJAJ for this award and congratulate the other deserving recipients,” said Ms. Relkin. “I am proud to be a part of NJAJ and to support its mission to protect and fight for New Jersey residents.”
Ms. Relkin has often taken a leadership position in these cases. Most recently, she was appointed to serve on the Executive Committee for the multidistrict litigation (MDL) against major opioid drug makers and distributors that is proceeding in the Northern District of Ohio (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, Case No. 2804). She also serves as lead counsel on other high profile litigations including those involving Stryker’s defective cobalt chromium femoral head implant in the New Jersey Multi-County Litigation (In Re: Stryker LFit CoCr V40 Femoral Heads Litigation, Case No. 624).
In her work at W&L, she has helped negotiate a $2.5 billion settlement for victims of a failed hip implant made by DePuy and was a member of the trial team that won a landmark $13.5 million verdict for a patient who had a heart attack after taking the pain medication Vioxx.
Ms. Relkin serves on the Board of Governors of the New Jersey Association for Justice and is Co-Chair of NJAJ’s Mass Tort Law Committee and Mass Tort l Law Section. She is also on the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Mass Torts Committee, and is President of the Pound Civil Justice Institute.