Biography • Product Liability Defence

Shook, Hardy & Bacon Partner Michelle Fujimoto is former managing partner of the Orange County office and specialises in products liability litigation, with a focus on pharmaceutical and medical device defence. She has more than 25 years of experience in complex, products liability, toxic tort, and various science-driven litigations, and in the defence of mass tort litigation.

Ms Fujimoto has handled cases involving a variety of pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements (including diet drugs, hormone therapies, contraceptives, immunosuppressants, smoking cessation therapies and obesity therapies, allergy medications, antidepressants and anti-inflammatories) and drug discovery issues. Her medical device experience includes heart valves, neurovascular coils, orthopedic products, CT scan injectors, surgical instruments and solutions, tracheotomy tubes, intraocular lenses, respiratory protective devices and several chemicals. Ms Fujimoto's trial experience includes the defence of medical device and drug design, chemical exposure, breach of contract involving the divestiture of product lines, research agreements, distributor agreements and environmental remediation agreements.

Ms Fujimoto is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), where she serves on the diversity committee and as the drug, device and biotech committee's vice chair of publications. In 2009, she also served on the programming committee for that year's IADC Annual Meeting. In addition, Ms Fujimoto is active in the Defense Research Institute (DRI), sitting on the steering committee for the drug and medical device section and on the programming committee for DRI's Women In Law Seminar. She is a member of the California Women Lawyers and the Orange County and American Bar Associations.

Ms Fujimoto has lectured for the IADC and DRI, as well as the California Continuing Education of the Bar, the American Bar Association and Mealey's Conferences. She has been nominated for the Orange County Business Journal's 2009 "Women In Business" award and featured in Who's Who Legal's The International Who's Who of Product Liability Defence Lawyers (2010 and 2011); The Best Lawyers in America; and Expert Guides: Guide to the World's Leading Product Liability Lawyers.