Brian W. Shaffer

Partner

Brian W. Shaffer is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice. Mr. Shaffer counsels and defends clients in a variety of areas, including complex commercial litigation, construction law, business disputes, consumer fraud, product liability, mass torts, and healthcare provider certification matters. He has experience representing pharmaceutical, medical device, biotechnology, chemical, petroleum, and construction products companies in a variety of complex matters, including class actions, "mass" actions, MDL proceedings, and serial litigation at the trial and appellate levels. Mr. Shaffer has successfully defeated a number of state and nationwide class actions at the motion-to-dismiss and class-certification stages.

Mr. Shaffer also serves as co-chair of the firm's medical device litigation practice, and is a leader of the firm's cross-disciplinary life sciences group. Mr. Shaffer recently served as lead counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in litigation involving the 340B drug discount program, which culminated in a unanimous 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision in his client's favor. For the past several years, he has represented another leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in litigation brought by state Attorneys General, pension funds and private insurers. In those matters, he and the Morgan Lewis team have secured landmark decisions involving the dismissal of RICO and Medicaid fraud claims that have been widely cited by courts around the country and in the legal press, including a dismissal of a class action (affirmed on appeal in 2011) that was cited as one of the top drug and device decisions of 2008.

Mr. Shaffer has tried cases in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Colorado involving products liability, civil conspiracy, fraud, and breach of contract claims. In 2002, he and another Morgan Lewis partner tried a three week jury trial in Minnesota state court involving breach of contract and fraud claims, which resulted in a $29.6 million jury verdict on behalf of his clients ($21 million affirmed on appeal). The verdict was listed by The National Law Journal as one of the Top 100 Verdicts of 2002 and reportedly was the largest jury verdict ever awarded in that court. Mr. Shaffer has also served as lead counsel in representing clients in TRO's and preliminary injunction proceedings in state and federal court.

Mr. Shaffer also has experience prosecuting and defending a variety of large, multi-party construction claims and disputes, including: 

• defending the owner and prime contractor of the Tennessee Valley Authority's Cumberland fossil plant in Cumberland, Tennessee;
• prosecuting claims on behalf of a contractor at the U.S. penitentiary in Canaan, Pennsylvania;
• prosecuting and defending claims on behalf of a major subcontractor arising out of the construction of Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
• prosecuting claims on behalf of a subcontractor at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and
• prosecuting claims on behalf of a major subcontractor at Citizen's Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Shaffer has experience representing companies with respect to both product liability and contract matters in a variety of prelitigation and litigation contexts. He has successfully resolved numerous disputes through the use of arbitration, mediation, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Shaffer also has experience with traditional product liability claims, including chemical exposure, food additive, asbestos, groundwater contamination, and other toxic tort claims, and serves as outside general counsel to a specialty chemical company with respect to such matters.

Mr. Shaffer has been with the firm continuously since his graduation from law school in 1996 and was elevated to partner in 2003. He currently serves as vice-chair of the Philadelphia office's Professional Recruiting Committee. His pro bono activities include the representation of persecuted individuals seeking asylum in the U.S.

Mr. Shaffer is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania; the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits; and the U.S. Supreme Court.