For more than 26 years, Chris has steered her clients through practically every type of mass tort litigation. Her work has earned her the respect of industry leaders, including a Fortune Global 100 consumer products manufacturer who requested her secondment for nearly two years to assist in the management of nationwide litigation. Chris has a deep understanding of several consumer product industries, with particular emphasis on federally regulated industries such as pharmaceutical, tobacco, automotive, and specialty chemicals. She possesses significant insight into specific products including the business of designing, manufacturing, and marketing them. This insider-level of understanding has also made Chris a well-respected partner among in-house scientists and outside experts in a variety of highly technical disciplines, including epidemiologists and toxicologists.

Pairing her in-depth product knowledge with her experience in all phases of civil trial and appellate practice, Chris has tried jury and nonjury cases to verdict and has argued appeals. She has deep experience in class action defense, multidistrict litigation (MDL), and other coordinated proceedings. Chris has led dozens of mediations, and utilizes early case assessment techniques to both evaluate matters and devise strategies for summary resolution.

As the former Mass Torts Practice Group Leader, Chris leads the Firm’s Medical and Scientific Solutions and Case Management Facility Practices.

Publications

Regular Contributor and Editor, Womble Bond Dickinson’s Law Meets Science Blog

Civic and Professional Activities

Civic Activities

  • Graduate of Leadership Winston-Salem
  • Past Fellowship Chairperson, Rotary Club International, Stratford Club
  • Past Board of Directors, Mental Health Association of Forsyth County 
  • Past Board of Trustees and Chair, Historic Bethabara Park
  • Past Board Member and President, Amos Cottage

Professional Activities

  • North Carolina Bar Association
    • Medico-Legal Liaison Committee (Chair, 2008-2010)
  • Forsyth County and 21st Judicial District Bar Association
  • Tennessee Bar Association
  • North Carolina Association of Defense Lawyers
  • Lex Mundi Institute Alumnus
  • Member, Piedmont Triad Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
  • National Center for State Courts
    • Lawyers Committee Member
  • Founding Member, REACH Women’s Network

Honors and Awards

  • Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (BL Rankings), Product Liability Litigation - Defendants (2013 - Present) and Commercial Litigation (2023 - Present)
  • Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society (membership in LCA is limited, representing less than one half of 1% of American lawyers, and is by invitation only)

Representative Experience

Any result the lawyer or law firm may have achieved on behalf of clients in other matters does not necessarily indicate similar results can be obtained for other clients.

  • Advises corporate law departments on ‘dollars-and-cents’ issues in litigation in order to help formulate methods and techniques that promote greater fee control, litigation management efficiency, and budget predictability.
  • Assessed litigation risk and crafted defense strategies for a 950-bed tertiary care medical center, provided medical, scientific and legal defense strategies to defend allegations of multisystem injuries associated with alleged surgical-equipment contamination. 
  • Evaluated cardiac claims and provided potential alternative causation defenses for a Fortune Global 500 reinsurer in dietary supplement litigation.
  • Served as a national science team member in auto manufacturer’s asbestos litigation defense, briefing the client’s trial lawyers on scientific issues, cross-examining scientific witnesses, and preparing scientific experts for depositions and trials.
  • Defended pharmaceutical manufacturer in diet drug litigation as regional counsel, with responsibility for developing scientific defenses, preparing medical expert witnesses for cases nationally, and cross-examining plaintiffs’ experts and medical witnesses at depositions.
  • Served a cloud computing provider as strategic coordination counsel as they made plans for defending numerous lawsuits across the country and abroad due to a data security incident.
  • As part of CMF representation, Chris has served:
    • Merck & Co. as national litigation management counsel in the VIOXX litigation, one of the largest mass torts in US history. Successfully navigated service, jurisdictional and other complex case strategy issues in the wide-scale multi-district and state-coordinated proceedings.
    • A global energy company as national litigation management counsel in thousands of individual actions and class actions, including shareholder actions and government investigations arising out of the Gulf Oil Spill.
    • General counsel in Fortune 500 companies to develop a variety of custom legal knowledge management systems that integrate compliance, early case assessment (ECA) LEAN/Six Sigma, and crisis management goals. Creative emphasis on legal analytics and innovation in the use of artificial intelligence and automation of legal processes and process improvement.