Keri Arnold
Keri Arnold is a trial attorney with over twenty years’ experience defending companies in product liability, environmental, and complex commercial litigation. She has tried over a dozen cases to verdict, including seven as first-chair trial counsel, on behalf of major pharmaceutical, tobacco, and energy companies. Keri has supervised the management and discovery of mass actions pending in state and federal courts and has extensive experience developing complex medical and scientific evidence for presentation at trial.
Most recently, Keri was a member of the trial team that secured a groundbreaking victory for Microsoft, defeating the FTC’s efforts to enjoin its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard and winning the second-biggest merger trial in American history. Following a five-day bench trial, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC’s motion for preliminary injunction, finding that the FTC failed to make its case that the acquisition would substantially lessen competition in the gaming industry.
Keri also recently represented a major chemical manufacturer in the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 2873) in the District of South Carolina. The litigation, involving alleged PFAS groundwater contamination from the use of AFFF, is considered the most significant PFAS litigation in the country. Keri was set to serve as a member of the trial team for the manufacturer in the first bellwether trial in the AFFF MDL, which was halted on the eve of trial when the remaining parties announced a settlement to end all water-provider claims brought against the manufacturer. Keri also currently represents Monsanto in litigation arising out of claims that its popular herbicide Roundup causes Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Before joining Wilkinson Stekloff, Keri was a partner at Arnold & Porter, where she specialized in trial work and product liability litigation. Keri is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School. She has been recognized by Benchmark as a “Litigation Star” and named to their list of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation.” She has also been ranked by Legal 500 for “Product Liability and Mass Tort Defense” and appeared on Lawdragon’s list of the “500 Leading Litigators in America.”
Education
- Undergraduate: University of Colorado, Bachelor of Arts in Music and Biology, summa cum laude, Outstanding Graduate in College of Arts & Sciences (1995)
- Law: University of Colorado, Juris Doctor, Order of the Coif (1999)
Notable Matters
- Member of the trial team that secured a groundbreaking victory for Microsoft, defeating the FTC’s efforts to enjoin its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard and winning the second-biggest merger trial in American history. Following a five-day bench trial, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC’s motion for preliminary injunction, finding that the FTC failed to make its case that the acquisition would substantially lessen competition in the gaming industry. The deal closed shortly thereafter.
- Member of the team representing a major chemical manufacturer in the Aqueous Film-Forming Foams (AFFF) Products Liability Litigation in the District of South Carolina. The multidistrict litigation, involving alleged PFAS groundwater contamination from the use of AFFF, is considered the most significant PFAS litigation in the country. Was set to serve as a member of the trial team for the manufacturer in the first bellwether trial in the AFFF MDL, which was halted when the remaining parties announced a settlement to end all water-provider claims brought against the manufacturer.
- Represented major tobacco company for over a decade as first- and second-chair trial counsel in multiple individual consumer products personal injury and wrongful death cases in both state and federal courts.
- First-chair trial counsel in bellwether cases involving potential groundwater contamination for a consumer products company.
- First-chair trial counsel in franchisee class action litigation asserting contract, unfair competition, and antitrust claims for a global energy company.
- First-chair trial counsel in a consolidated product liability case for a major consumer product/pharmaceutical company.
Publications
- Trial Pros: Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer's Keri Arnold, Class Action Law360, New York Law360, Product Liability Law360, and Trials Law360, February 2016.
- Drug Product Liability at the Crossroads, in Cohen er al., Book chapter, The Oxford Handbook of American Health Law, February 2015.
- The Learned Intermediary Doctrine: A Historical Review, Product Liability Law360, Life Sciences Law360, October 2014.
- Managing Mass Torts: Less is Definitely More, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer Webcast January 2013.
- Using Plaintiff's Bankruptcy in a Product Liability Action, Product Liability Law360, Bankruptcy Law360 July 2012. Also ran in International Law Office's Product Liability Newsletter October 2012.
- School Impact Fees in Colorado: Gone, But Hopefully Not Forgotten, University of Colorado Law Review, 70 U. Colo. L. Rev. (1999).
Other Activities
- Lecturer in Law, Drug Product Liability Law, Columbia Law School