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 $68.7 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 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 Chambers and Legal 500 for “Product Liability and Mass Tort Defense” and appeared on Lawdragon’s list of the “500 Leading Litigators in America.”
Keri’s other notable representations include:
- 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.
Updated Sep 2024
