Heralded by clients as "a legend of the defense bar" and "well-prepared, tenacious and strategic."Legal 500
Overview
Consistently highly sought in the defense of high-stakes, high-profile mass tort and product liability litigations, Arvin Maskin helps clients across a wide range of industries to effectively anticipate, avoid and successfully manage some of the most high profile enterprise risks. He has successfully handled a broad range of domestic and international matters, including the defense, coordination and resolution of product liability, mass tort and consumer fraud class action and MDL litigations, in some cases seeking billions of dollars, involving asbestos, breast implants, food products, industrial chemicals and their by-products, genetic research, lead paint, aircraft, automotive products, electrical and navigation equipment, international industrial accidents, train derailments and tunnel disasters, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, food products and baby formula, as well as counseling relating to industrial, consumer and OTC products, FDA, EPA, NHTSA and Consumer Product Safety Act compliance, product recalls (domestic and international), the False Claims Act, the Alien Tort Statute, Congressional investigations, deceptive trade practice claims brought by state attorneys general, corporate acquisitions, product distribution, marketing and labeling, risk avoidance, insurance, internal investigations, food tampering and acts of international terrorism.
Arvin was a lead counsel and negotiator in connection with World War II forced and slave labor class actions involving eight different nations, and served as lead counsel in the defense and resolution of 33 separate state consumer fraud class actions and an MDL concerning some 170 million automobile and light truck tires. He handled mass tort class actions involving African apartheid-related claims under the Alien Tort Statute, as well as class actions and related consumer fraud and personal injury litigations throughout the country involving the sale of hundreds of thousands of bullet-resistant vests, including related suits brought by the US Department of Justice under the False Claims Act seeking hundreds of millions of dollars and multiple congressional hearings and TV specials. He was also a nationally recognized attorney on punitive damages, class actions and multidistrict litigation, as well as the innovative use of science in the courtroom, and chaired numerous national conferences and counseled multinational corporations on all aspects of corporate enterprise risk management and crisis preparedness. In fact, Arvin has partnered with his clients for years to help create a framework for threat management that is proactive, predictive, preventive – and less reactive. He helps clients identify, evaluate and avoid foreseeable and unforeseeable global threat scenarios, leveraging our firm’s experience and expertise, including all aspects of crisis management.
While with another prominent international law firm and, prior to that, with the US Department of Justice in Washington DC, he was the government’s lead counsel in such seminal matters such as the “Agent Orange” litigation, and has received multiple Department awards and recognitions.
Arvin is a recognized thought leader in all aspects of enterprise risk and crisis management, including strategic communications – and he has also served as a legal commentator for CNN and Fox, as well as Businessweek, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and other journals, and has guest-lectured at Yale, Georgetown, Harvard, Columbia, and NYU, among other institutions throughout the US and around the world.
Areas of Focus
Perspectives
Education
Georgetown University, BA
Georgetown University Law Center, JD
Admissions
- New York
Court
- US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- US District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
- US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- US Supreme Court
Activities
- Member, Lawyers for Civil Justice
- Member, Legal Policy Advisory Board, Washington Legal Foundation
- Founder and chair of the ABA Task Force on Enterprise Risk Management, which is now a subcommittee of the ABA Corporate Counsel Committee (which Arvin has co-chaired)
- Former Member, Task Force on Mass Torts of the US Chamber of Commerce
- Former Member, American Law Institute’s Consultative Group for The Restatement of the Law of Torts (Third) Products Liability
- Former Member, American Law Institute’s Consultative Group for the Restatement of the Law of Torts: General Principles.
- Former invited commentator for the Manual on Complex Litigation (Third) for the Federal Judicial Center
- Former Chairman of the Torts & Insurance Practice Section’s Committee on Toxics & Hazardous Substances and Environmental Law, American Bar Association
- Former Co-Chair of Mass Torts Litigation Committee, Litigation Section, ABA
- Former Co-Chair of 2019 Litigation Section Annual Conference of the ABA
- Former Chairman of Enterprise Risk Management Task Force of Committee on Corporate Counsel, Litigation Section, ABA
- Formerly Served on the Board of Advisors of BNA’s Toxics Law Reporter; BNA’s Products & Safety Liability Reporter; and Leader Publications’ Products Liability Law & Strategy
- ABA Pro Bono Task Force of the Litigation Section
- Immediate past Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Corporate Counsel Committee, and Co-Chair of the Mass Torts Litigation Committee, Litigation Section
- Co-Chair of the ABA Subcommittee on Complex Torts of the Corporate Counsel Committee, Litigation SectionPerspectives
- "Legend of the Defense Bar Arvin Maskin of Mayer Brown with Host Richard Levick of LEVICK on Enterprise Risk & Crisis Management," In House Warrior Podcast, 11 February 2022
- Clients have described him as “a legend of the defense bar”, “well-prepared, tenacious, and strategic”, and “known for his unique ability to see litigation clearly and to convey the unvarnished truth.”
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
- Fellow, New York Bar Foundation
- Life Member of the American Law Institute
- Lectured at the Japan Business Federation (“Keidanren”) in Tokyo
- Lectured at the New South Wales Law Society in Sydney
- Recipient of three consecutive “Special Achievement Awards” and a US Department of Justice “Certificate of Appreciation” for his “notable contribution to the protection of the interests of the United States.”
- Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a “Litigation Star” for Product Liability in the US and as a “Local Litigation Star” for Product Liability in New York.
- Recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” by Legal 500 for Product Liability and Mass Tort Defense, including in the Consumer Products and Toxic Tort specialties.
- Recognized by American Lawyer as the leader of one of the best product liability and mass tort practices in the US.