Robert splits his time between developing litigation strategies and trying cases. His experience includes commercial, product liability and toxic tort cases involving personal injury, wrongful death, premises liability, theft of intellectual property, RICO, civil nuisance, land use, and property damage.  Working with teams from our local offices in New York, Atlanta, Charleston, Dallas, Austin, St Louis, Los Angeles and San Francisco, he manages to practice literally coast to coast.  

To help clients avoid litigation or quickly resolve it when it arises, it is important to understand litigation leverage.  The best perspective comes from a combination of courtroom work and client contact. Robert has tried cases all over the country.  In,  November 2014, he tried a $13 million case with possible punitive damages to a unanimous defense verdict in federal court in Los Angeles.  Earlier that year, he tried one in state court for 4 months before receiving a dismissal for his client. In 2013, he received a defense verdict  after a 3 month trial and in  2012 a  three week trial resulted in a directed verdict in his client’s favor. Despite the courtroom experience, he  makes a concerted effort to spend even more time working with clients to avoid litigation,  resolve unavoidable cases short of trial and reduce legal costs. 

His experience ranges from plaintiff’s work,  representing the family of a woman who drowned in an elevator  and  landowners whose property was affected by a nearby nuisance to the defense of companies who made a variety of products from toys to turbines.  He has represented  manufacturers of a range of products with  potentially harmful ingredients like asbestos,  benzene, PCBs, silica and dioxin. He has also tried commercial, product liability, medical malpractice, general negligence, and federal civil rights cases. He also helps clients avoid lawsuits with risk management advice on warnings, warranties, regulations, and post-sale responsibilities. 

Robert is licensed in Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, Illinois and California.  He is regularly admitted to handle cases in New York. He takes time to host client and firm educational events at Thackston Farm, a training retreat in East Texas. He believes in educating young attorneys to become “Renaissance Lawyers,” capable in all areas of their practice, especially professionalism. Feel free to ask him for the slides from that presentation.