Leslie O'Leary

Leslie O’Leary has been involved in mass tort litigation for over 15 years, including her work before and since attending law school. Prior to joining WLO&P, Ms. O’Leary worked as commercial real estate appraiser, and later, as a paralegal in the Lincoln Savings MDL and was a member of the trial team in Tucson, Arizona. After joining the firm in 1992, she supervised the national discovery of millions of documents and assisted with dozens of depositions in the silicone breast implant MDL. Ms. O’Leary continued to do legal research and prepare breast implant cases for trial during law school.

A native Montanan, Ms. O’Leary graduated cum laude from the University of Montana in 1982. Ms. O’Leary received her law degree in 1998 from Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College. She was admitted to the Oregon State Bar in 1999 and is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court of Oregon.

After law school, Ms. O’Leary took a lead role in the Fen-phen litigation. She was involved in document review and depositions in the MDL. She also represented over 200 Oregon and Washington clients, arguing motions and preparing their cases for trial. She worked with attorneys in other states to assist an additional 2,000 people injured by these diet drugs.

Since then, Ms. O’Leary was appointed to the Phenylpropanolamine (PPA) Discovery Committee, as well as the Science and Expert Committee. She reviewed documents, took depositions, and was part of the team that briefed and argued the Daubert motions in the MDL. Ms. O’Leary also represented several PPA clients in Oregon and around the country in their individual lawsuits.

In 2003, Ms. O’Leary was elected co-chair of the ATLA Ephedra Litigation Group. She currently represents people injured by dietary supplements containing ephedra. She also represents individuals who have suffered strokes and cardiac failure as a result of ephedra use. She is also Treasurer of the ATLA Section on Toxic and Environmental Torts.

In May 2004, Ms. O’Leary was appointed to the national Ephedra MDL Plaintiffs Coordinating Committee. She is one of eight members who manage the pretrial discovery for all cases in the Ephedra MDL. Ms. O’Leary authored the MDL plaintiffs’ Daubert briefs on admissibility of expert testimony and successfully argued these motions before the court.

Ms. O’Leary is also a member of the national Prempro MDL Discovery, Science and Law Committees in the Prempro MDL. She was instrumental in defeating challenges to the admissibility of scientific expert testimony on causation and has been a trial team member in three several bellwether hormone therapy cases.

In addition, Ms. O’Leary currently serves on the Executive Committee of the American Association for Justice Section on Toxic, Environmental & Pharmaceutical Toxic Torts (“STEP”).

Ms. O’Leary is a member of the Board of Governors for the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association. She also serves on the board of Oregon Women Lawyers and the Oregon State Bar Products Liability Section Executive Committee. In 2006, Ms. O’Leary was appointed to the Oregon State Bar’s Council on Court Procedures. In addition, she is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, the Federal Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. She also enjoys mentoring new law school students at Northwestern School of Law.

Ms. O’Leary regularly lectures colleagues and law students on legal topics such as federal preemption, admissibility of expert testimony under Daubert and other issues of importance to the right to trial by jury. In May of 2006, Ms. O’Leary was invited to the Sedona Conference, Litigating Mass Torts as a panelist, along with several esteemed judges and lawyers. Ms. O’Leary recently completed a chapter on expert witnesses for the Oregon State Bar publication entitled Federal Civil Litigation in Oregon.

She has spoken at several national conferences regarding mass tort litigation and has presented at continuing education classes for attorneys in Oregon. Beyond her practice as litigator, Ms. O’Leary has authored such works as: “Mass Tort Class Actions: Will Amchem Spawn Creative Solutions?” Defense Counsel Journal , October 1998; “Kumho Tire in Oregon: Should it Apply?” Trial Lawyer , Summer 2000; and “Pharmaceutical Mass Torts: A High Stakes Game” Trial Lawyer , Winter, 2002; “In pursuit of Ephedra: The Challenges of Pharmaceutical Mass Torts, Trial Lawyer, Spring, 2006; “The Fraud of Hormone Therapy: How Drug Companies Manipulated Women, Trial Lawyer, Spring, 2006; “Less than perfect Evidence: The Collision of Science and Law Under Daubert,” Oregon State Bar Products Liability Newsletter , Winter 2006; “Does FDA Regulation of Drug Labeling Preempt State Law Failure to Warn Claims? A Point/Counter-Point,” Oregon State Bar Products Liability Newsletter, Spring 2007.

 

Selected Seminars and Presentations

July 15, 2007: AAJ, Section on Toxic, Environmental, and Pharmaceutical Torts (STEP): Panel, “Ethical Questions Arising in Mass Tort Cases.”

November 10, 2006: OSB Products Liability Section Annual CLE: “Dealing with Experts: Offering and Challenging Scientific and Technical Experts – Daubert and Rule 104 Challenges.”

May 4-5, 2006: Eighth Annual Sedona Conference, Sedona, AZ: Panelist, “Litigating Mass Torts.”

January 5-7, 2006: ABA Summit on Environmental Products Liability and Mass Torts, Beavercreek, CO: “Toxicology and Epidemiology: How to Communicate These Areas to Laypeople”

October 3, 2005: Lecture, Northwestern School of Law, Portland, OR. Torts II: “Admissibility of Scientific Evidence: What Hath Daubert Wrought?”

July 27, 2005: ATLA Convention, Toronto, Daubert Litigation Group: “Analysis of a Good Daubert Outcome – The Daubert Trophy.”

June 13-14, 2005: Mealey’s Ephedra & PPA Litigation Conference, New Orleans, LA: “Expert Admissibility in Ephedra Cases.”

March 31, 2005: NBI Seminar, Portland, OR: “Getting Your Evidence and Expert Testimony Admitted into Court in Oregon.”

October 2, 2004: ATLA Seminar, Las Vegas, NV: “Hormone Therapy: Damages from Defense Perspective.”

September 14, 2004: ATLA Tele-Seminar, “Hormone Therapy: Case Screening and Intake Criteria.”

July 5, 2004: ATLA Convention, Boston, MA Litigation At Sunrise: “Fighting Protective Orders.”

July 2, 2004: Fen-phen Seminar, Boston, MA “Liability Evidence in a PPH Case.”

March 23, 2004: Mealey’s Emerging Mass Tort Conference, Scottsdale AZ. “Status of PPA and Ephedra Litigation.”

February 13, 2004: Fen-phen Seminar, Orlando, FL. “”Liability Evidence in a PPH Case.”

October 11, 2003: PPA MDL Plaintiffs Steering and Discovery Committees, Las Vegas, NV. “Wyeth Liability.”

July 22, 2003: ATLA Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA. “PPA Daubert Victory and Lessons Learned.”

February 5, 2002: Mealey’s PPA & Ephedra Litigation Conference, Philadelphia, PA. Conference Co-chair; “PPA and General Causation Evidence.”

October 18, 2002: PPA MDL Plaintiffs Steering and Discovery Committees, Las Vegas, NV. “Proving Damages in PPA Cases: Neuropsychological Examinations.”

April 3, 2002: Willamette Law School, Salem, OR. “Scientific Evidence in Mass Tort Cases.”

March 21, 2002: WSTLA/OTLA Reciprocity CLE, Bellevue, WA. “General Practice and Procedure.”

January 29, 2002: OTLA Brown Bag Lunch Seminar, Northwestern School of Law, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR. “Seeking Justice for Consumers: Class Actions.”

November 15, 2001: Oregon State Bar Product Liability Section, Lake Oswego, OR. “Finding Documents to Prove Your Case.”

November 8, 2001: Oregon Professional Liability Fund CLE, Portland, OR. “Learning the Ropes: Tips and Traps for Plaintiff Lawyers.”

November 2, 2001: Mass Torts Made Perfect, Las Vegas, NV. “Trial Preparation Tutorial.”

August 16, 2001: Mealey’s PPA/Ephedra Litigation Conference, San Diego, CA. “Fighting Onerous Protective Orders”

March 12, 2001: Mealey’s PPA and Ephedra Litigation Conference, Philadelphia. “The Medical Literature on PPA.”

Authored

“Does FDA Regulation of Drug Labeling Preempt State Law Failure to Warn Claims? A Point/Counter-Point,” Oregon State Bar Products Liability Newsletter, Oregon State Bar Section on Products Liability, Spring 2007.

“The Fraud of Hormone Therapy: How drug companies manipulated women,” Trial Lawyer, Spring 2006.

“In Pursuit of Ephedra: The challenge of pharmaceutical torts,” Trial Lawyer, Spring 2006.

“Less Than Perfect Evidence: The Collision of Science and Law Under Daubert,” Products

Liability Newsletter, Oregon State Bar Section on Products Liability, Winter, 2006.

“Pharmaceutical Mass Torts: A High Stakes Game,” Trial Lawyer , Winter 2002

“Kumho Tire in Oregon: Should it Apply?” Trial Lawyer , Summer 2000.

“Mass Tort Class Actions: Will Amchem Spawn Creative Solutions?” Defense Counsel Journal , October 1998.