The American Lawyer

Vol. XXV, No. 1

January 2003

45 UNDER FORTY-FIVE: THE RISING STARS OF THE PRIVATE BAR

In 1995, The American Lawyer identified the private bar's next generation of

leaders. Now, we look back at them--and ahead to their successors.

The word “elite” comes from an Old French verb meaning “to choose.” In its

modern connotation, the word has also come to stand for high achievement.

Both meanings apply to the special report that follows--the culmination of an

intensive effort by the staff of The American Lawyer to choose 45 of the

highestperforming members of the private bar under the age of 45.

We had help. Many months ago, we contacted all the firms in The Am Law 200

to seek their nominations. We also spun our own Rolodexes, scanned Web sites

and news clippings, and reached out to luminaries within particular practice

areas to solicit their thoughts.

As for criteria, there were a very few. We looked for prodigies who had

already notched a major trial win or complex deal, for those who had

established remarkable records of professional development, for those who

could point to an independent book of business, for those who might have

overcome adversity. We also looked far and wide. It would be possible to

construct a list of 45 young bankruptcy specialists whose accomplishments

were noteworthy (particularly in this market), but we wanted to draw from

many walks of law.

The result, we think, will stand up over time. That was certainly true of

the alumni from our last such effort; their impressive updates appear

throughout the following pages. So, for all you elitists out there, happy

talent scouting.

Ellen Reisman, 43

Arnold & Porter, Los Angeles

“Negotiating that settlement was the single hardest thing I have ever done,”

says Ellen Reisman. “You get more sleep at trials.”

“That settlement” was the “fen-phen” diet drug class action settlement. American Home Products, marketer of two of the drugs, pulled them from the market in 1997, after studies suggested that they cause heart valve disease. More than 10,000 product liability lawsuits followed. Reisman spent so much time working on the case that she moved in-house at American Home Products for two years. (The firm was retained as national counsel.) She and a colleague at Arnold & Porter spent the entire summer and most of the fall of 1999 in an endurance contest with plaintiffs lawyers in a conference room in Philadelphia. Louis Hoynes, executive vice president and general counsel of American Home Products, now known as Wyeth, says Reisman's technical knowledge and ability to earn the trust of opposing counsel were critical to the settlement that emerged. “I'm not sure this could have been accomplished without her,” he says.

Reisman already knew a lot about the heart from the Shiley heart valve litigation. Shiley Inc., a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., invented a mechanical heart valve that doctors implanted in 86,000 people worldwide. A small number of the valves broke, causing death in most cases. Reisman spent six years on the case, implementing a 1992 class action settlement and answering questions from international regulators about tests and studies performed by the company on the valves.

Reisman joined Arnold & Porter in 1984 after receiving her law degree from the University of Chicago. Shortly thereafter, she received a “three-week” assignment that lasted about three years, defending Pfizer against claims that its arthritis drug Feldene harms the intestines. Along the way, she discovered that she enjoyed medical product liability defense.

She was elected partner in 1992 and has since made several coast-to-coast moves representing pharmaceutical and medical device companies. After nearly two years of commuting from Arnold & Porter's Washington, D.C., base to the firm's Los Angeles office for the Shiley litigation, she and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1995. Four years later, when Reisman went in-house at American Home Products, the family moved to Philadelphia. But in 2001 Reisman returned to Los Angeles and Arnold & Porter because her husband and oldest son didn't like Philadelphia. “It's tough to go to Philadelphia when you lived one block from the beach in Santa Monica,” she says.

Luckily, she hadn't sold the beach house.

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