Benchmark Litigation has shortlisted Williams & Connolly for its 2023 “Appellate Firm of the Year” award. Williams & Connolly’s Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation practice consistently receives recognition from top legal media ranking publications, including The National Law Journal, Legal 500, and Chambers USA, which recently ranked the firm among the top appellate practices in the country.
 
Most recently, the practice scored major victories for clients GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) and CVS Health subsidiary Caremark LLC. In January 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously affirmed a summary judgment victory for GSK in multidistrict product liability litigation where a group of more than 400 plaintiffs attempted to attribute various birth defects, including heart defects and cleft palate, to the use of Zofran, an anti-nausea medication. After oral argument by Lisa Blatt in July 2022, the First Circuit held that federal law preempts the plaintiffs’ state-law failure-to-warn claims. Williams & Connolly also secured an important victory for CVS Health subsidiary Caremark LLC before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a case concerning whether claims brought by pharmacies run by federally recognized tribes were subject to arbitration. On August 9, 2022, after oral argument by Sarah Harris, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order granting CVS Health subsidiary Caremark, LLC and others’ petition to compel arbitration of a dispute with the Chickasaw Nation and five pharmacies that the Nation owns and operates.  
 
The Williams & Connolly team representing GSK included Amy Saharia, Lisa Blatt, and Jami King; the victory has been widely covered by the press, including by Law360, Reuters, and Bloomberg Law. The Williams & Connolly team representing CVS Health subsidiary Caremark LLC included Sarah Harris and Kimberly Broecker; click here to see coverage by Law360.
 
Click here to see the full list of Benchmark Litigation’s shortlisted firms.