In this episode of Reasonably Speaking, Robert H. Klonoff leads a discussion on one of the defining challenges in modern mass tort litigation: coordinating parallel proceedings in federal and state courts. Featuring John H. Beisner, Elizabeth J. Cabraser, and M. Casey Rodgers, the conversation explores why effective coordination matters to judges, plaintiffs, and defendants alike. Through examples drawn from complex litigation, the panel examines how courts and counsel navigate issues such as case management, bellwether trials, settlement, and other key stages of aggregate litigation.
The episode also offers a preview into the topics to be addressed at the ALI/NYU MDL in Motion 2026 conference, held at NYU School of Law on October 2. Conference and registration details are available here.
John H. Beisner
John H. Beisner is a partner in the Washington office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and leader of Skadden’s Mass Torts, Insurance and Consumer Litigation Group. John regularly handles appellate litigations and has appeared in matters before the U.S. Supreme Court. Over the past 35 years, he has defended major U.S. and international corporations in more than 600 purported class actions filed in federal courts and in 40 state courts at both the trial and appellate levels.
Those class actions have involved a wide variety of subjects, including antitrust/unfair competition, consumer fraud, RICO, ERISA, employment discrimination, environmental issues, product-related matters and securities. He also has handled numerous matters before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, as well as proceedings before various federal and state administrative agencies, particularly the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
John was elected to the ALI in 1994 and has served on ALI's Council since May 2009. He is an Adviser on the Restatement Third, Consumer Contracts project and was previously an Adviser on the Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation project. He has advised on numerous high-visibility corporate crisis situations, including congressional hearings, federal agency investigations, state attorneys general inquiries and General Accounting Office reviews. Among others, he represented Merck in its Vioxx litigation. He also negotiated a settlement with state attorneys general regarding the Countrywide Finance/Bank of America mortgage lending practices investigation, resulting in a creative loan modification program intended to help more than 400,000 families maintain ownership of their homes. He was named Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer for his role in this case.
John is a frequent writer and lecturer on class action and complex litigation issues. In 2013, he received the Burton Award for Legal Achievement, which recognizes excellence in legal scholarship. He also has been an active participant in litigation reform initiatives before Congress, state legislatures and judicial committees. He has testified numerous times on class action and claims aggregation issues before the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees (particularly with respect to the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005) and before state legislative committees. For his integral role in crafting the Class Action Fairness Act, John was recognized with the 2011 Research and Policy Award by The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. He repeatedly has been selected for inclusion, and is in the top tier, in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in the area of products liability, and he also is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, The Legal 500 U.S., Who’s Who Legal, Best of the Best USA and Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America. He was profiled in an article by The American Lawyer that named Skadden as a finalist in the products liability section of its Litigation Department of the Year contest (January 2012).
John repeatedly has been named Best Lawyers’ Washington, D.C. Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants Lawyer of the Year, as well as a Star by LMG Life Sciences in the non-IP litigation and enforcement and products liability categories. He also was recognized as one of the 2013 BTI Client Service All-Stars by The BTI Consulting Group for providing outstanding client service. In addition, he was selected as one of Law360’s MVPs of 2019 and 2011 in the products liability category, which recognizes those who have raised the bar in corporate law throughout the year. In 2010, Law360 profiled John in two articles that named Skadden as a Product Liability Group of the Year and Class Action Group of the Year.
Elizabeth J. Cabraser
Under Elizabeth Cabraser’s leadership, Lieff Cabraser has become one of the country’s largest law firms serving clients seeking redress for financial and consumer fraud, anti-competitive practices, harmful drugs and products, environmental disasters, and illegal employment practices. For four decades, Elizabeth has made sure that our firm remains dedicated to its clients and its core values.
Possessing unparalleled expertise in complex civil litigation, Elizabeth has served as court-appointed lead, co-lead, or class counsel in scores of federal multi-district and state coordinated proceedings. These cases include multi-state tobacco, the Exxon Valdez disaster, Breast Implants, Fen-Phen (Diet Drugs), Vioxx, Toyota sudden acceleration, numerous securities/investment fraud cases, and Holocaust litigation.
More recently, Elizabeth has served in court-appointed leadership positions in several of the nation’s highest profile civil cases, including serving as a settlement class counsel in the Deepwater Horizon MDL, as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in the GM ignition switch defect litigation, and as Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in the Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” and Fiat Chrysler Ecodiesel Emissions MDLs.
She is also currently immersed in nationwide Opioids litigation. In January 2018, she was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and Settlement Negotiating Committee in the National Prescription Opiates MDL, and in 2022 was appointed Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in the McKinsey & Co. National Prescription Opiate MDL. In addition, Elizabeth currently serves as a Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in the Camp Lejeune Water Litigation.
Elizabeth has been repeatedly recognized as one of the foremost litigators in our nation, including being selected an unprecedented four times as one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal, which has called her “a pillar of the plaintiffs’ bar.”
Robert H. Klonoff
Bob Klonoff is the Jordan D. Schnitzer Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus (2007-2014) at Lewis & Clark Law School. His areas of expertise include class action litigation, civil procedure, federal courts, appellate litigation, and criminal procedure. After graduating from Yale Law School, Bob clerked for the Honorable John R. Brown, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He then served as an Assistant United States Attorney in D.C. and as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States.
Bob served for many years as a partner at the international law firm of Jones Day, where he handled complex litigation at both the trial and appellate levels and also held the administrative post of chair of the pro bono program for all of the firm’s 20+ offices. He has extensive litigation experience. He has argued eight cases before the United States Supreme Court, including Gentile v. Nevada Bar and Kungys v. United States, and has argued dozens of cases in other federal and state appellate courts throughout the country. He has also tried dozens of cases (primarily jury trials). In addition, he has served as an expert witness in numerous class action and other aggregate cases, including the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill litigation, the JUUL Labs Product Liability litigation, the National Football League Concussion litigation, the Volkswagen Clean Diesel litigation, the Wells Fargo Unauthorized Accounts litigation, the Equifax Data Breach litigation, the National Association of Realtors MLS Antitrust litigation, the NCAA Antitrust litigation, and the Parkland Shooting civil litigation.
Bob has represented clients on both the plaintiff and defense side in more than 100 class actions. For example, he served as co-lead appellate counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court class action case, TransUnion v. Ramirez and co-lead appellate counsel in the Sixth Circuit in In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation. He also serves as co-counsel for plaintiffs in the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Product Liability litigation, the Social Media MDL litigation, and the Marriott Data Breach litigation. His pro bono cases have included death penalty, civil rights, and veterans’ rights cases.
A member of ALI for more than 20 years, Bob serves on the Institute’s Council, is Chair of Development Committee, and was an Associate Reporter for the class action project Principles of the Law of Aggregate Litigation.
M. Casey Rodgers
Judge Casey Rodgers began her federal judicial service on May 9, 2002, as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Florida. On November 21, 2003, President George W. Bush appointed Judge Rodgers as United States District Judge for the Northern District of Florida, where she served as Chief Judge from 2011 to 2018.
She also served on the Judicial Conference of the United States Committee on Criminal Law from 2010 to 2017. She has been a member of the American Law Institute since 2013. During the past eight years, Judge Rodgers has presided over three multidistrict litigations: In re Abilify, In re 3M Combat Arms V2 Earplug, and more recently, In re Depo Provera. In April of 2026, she was appointed to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
