Suzanne Galvin

Suzanne is a versatile litigator who finds creative solutions for clients facing difficult and protracted legal battles. She has particular experience in matters involving medical issues, medical products, pharmaceuticals and complex environmental litigation.

In one class action, Suzanne led the deposition of the class representative. The case was dismissed immediately thereafter. In another case, Suzanne was part of a team that developed a creative way for their client to get dismissed from the class action without pay, saving the company from certain bankruptcy. Suzanne recently defended a uranium processing facility in Illinois against claims it affected property values and alleged medical issues of its facility. Suzanne also consults businesses on environmental litigation and its implications to business decisions and practices.

Suzanne has been invited as part of the national trial teams in a variety of products, from pelvic mesh implants to pharmaceuticals to lithium ion battery fires. She has also served as lead medical counsel in addressing personal injury aspects of numerous environmental torts, particularly groundwater contamination cases.

Suzanne has extensive experience in pharmaceutical litigation. Early in her career, she was part of the national trial team that represented the makers of a biologic medicine designed to treat hemophilia through which thousands of hemophilia patients contracted HIV. Suzanne assisted in crafting a litigation strategy that led to its successful resolution. She has also served on the national trial team for pharmaceutical cases involving a diabetes medication that was alleged to have caused bladder cancer and worked on a team representing a manufacturer of hip implants. Currently, Suzanne serves on the national trial team for transvaginal mesh implant cases remanded from an MDL and is also representing a pharmacy in opioids litigation.

As the former Counsel and Risk Manager for one of the Midwest's largest teaching hospitals, where she was responsible for litigation, Suzanne has deep experience in the health care industry and uses her network to serve clients. For example, after a catastrophic trucking accident, two law firms told a client no expert could be found, but Suzanne, part of a team hired just before trial, was able to retain a local expert. The case settled on the courthouse steps for a favorable amount. Suzanne was instrumental in developing the "express regret when appropriate" strategy for the healthcare system, which 20 years later was recognized in the NY Times as a "new trend" in healthcare.

With her husband, John Galvin, Suzanne has served as a chaplain certified in disaster response counseling. Suzanne and John have traveled around the U.S. and the world providing counseling to people affected by natural disasters, terrorism and political unrest, including Yazidi women and children who were former captives of ISIS. The couple also founded a nonprofit, New Commandment Ministries, that helps at-risk children in the U.S. and Nairobi, Ukraine, and Haiti with projects that provide education, medical care, vocational training, and freshwater.