Katherine A. Vaky
Katherine A. Vaky focuses her practice on complex, high-stakes product liability cases, including preparing such matters for trial and managing large trial teams. With her strong knowledge of federal civil procedure and jurisdictional and constitutional law, Katherine has represented corporate clients throughout the litigation process and has played key roles in litigating some of the most significant crisis and mass tort litigation matters in the country in recent years.
Katherine handles a wide range of consumer-focused litigation through every stage of the dispute resolution cycle. Her practice focuses on defending corporations against coordinated consumer-driven actions, especially multidistrict litigation cases. Katherine has a strong track record of building cases for trial and simultaneously executing case strategy across multiple matters in different forums.
Katherine was part of a team that represented a global pharmaceutical manufacturer in nationwide prescription opioids litigation. In addition to providing key litigation support to several state teams simultaneously at all stages of litigation, Katherine led the associate team during trial in an action brought by the City and County of San Francisco seeking billions in remedies against the company. In this role, Katherine assisted in executing the trial strategy adopted by the entire joint defense group.
Prior to leading the associate trial team in San Francisco, Katherine drafted key sections of a closing trial brief and aided in the preparation of closing arguments in a similar action brought by the State of California that secured the first defense trial victory in national prescription opioids litigation and proved to be a decisive trial ruling in which the court adopted several of the arguments Katherine assisted in drafting and developing.
Katherine is a proud member of the Pittsburgh legal community, beginning her legal career as a judicial law clerk to Judge Mark R. Hornak of the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, teaching a course on federal courts. She has been published in the Washington University in St. Louis Law Review. Katherine is a frequent panelist on federal civil practice and was a 2017 Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Champion.
