Überblick
Colleen Baime counsels clients on mass torts, product liability, civil conspiracy litigation, and general commercial disputes. She is licensed in both Illinois and California and maintains offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
Colleen defends corporations in complex and multi-jurisdictional toxic tort matters, including asbestos and petroleum exposure cases, and has tried multiple cases to verdict in Illinois and California. She also routinely negotiates the favorable resolution of matters on the eve or during the course of trial proceedings. In addition, Colleen has extensive appellate experience. She has briefed and argued multiple cases to the Illinois appellate courts and participated in several appeals to the California courts of appeal.
Colleen serves as national counsel, local counsel, and trial counsel in significant product liability and toxic tort litigation. As national counsel, she is involved in the development and implementation of defense strategy, supervises and directs local counsel in states throughout the country and oversees all aspects of litigation, including case development, motion practice, expert witness development, trials, settlement negotiations, court-ordered mediations and appeals. She has supervised trial teams and overseen defense strategy and courtroom presentation in more than three dozen trials. In her role as local counsel, she manages the day-to-day defense of cases throughout California. As trial counsel, she has personally tried more than a dozen cases to verdict.
While in law school, Colleen served as an editor of the Stanford Law & Policy Review. She is active in the Firm’s pro bono efforts, and works with families to secure appropriate individuals education programs (IEPs) for their children’s education, as well as handling immigration matters.
Ausgewählte Referenzmandate
- Secured a favorable jury verdict in a seven-week trial before an Illinois state court on behalf of a defendant accused of conspiring to conceal the hazards of asbestos from employees and customers. The plaintiff, who had mesothelioma, sought $4 million as compensatory damages and $20 million as punitive damages.
- Successfully argued two appeals to the Illinois appellate court regarding the elements necessary to prove civil conspiracy. The appellate victories cut off a significant docket of cases that had resulted in multiple jury trials per year.
- Successfully argued an appeal to the Illinois appellate court on the proper application and limitations of Illinois Rule of Civil Procedure 237(b) regarding a plaintiff’s ability to force a defendant to bring witnesses to trial.
- Secured a favorable jury verdict in California on behalf of a defendant alleged to have caused the death of two plaintiffs (a husband and wife) who died of mesothelioma. Following seven weeks of testimony and plaintiff counsel’s request in closing argument for $95 million in compensatory damages, the jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a defense verdict. The jury found that defendant was not negligent and that the defendant’s product did not present potential risks to users and had not failed to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect.
Qualifikation
Education
Stanford Law School – Stanford University, JD, 1993
Alma College, BA, summa cum laude, 1990
Admissions
Illinois
California
