Sheila Birnbaum of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is one of the most prominent litigators in the field of products liability and mass tort and a pioneer for women in the profession. Dubbed the ‘Queen of Toxic Torts,’ Birnbaum played a groundbreaking role in products liability cases involving oral contraceptives, breast implants and other sprawling litigation.
She has also been deeply involved in the compensation of people who lost family members or were injured themselves in the al Qaida attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. At the behest of Southern District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, she mediated more than 90 wrongful death cases to settlement between victims, the airline industry, airline security companies and the insurance industrycases that were brought by people who declined to take part in the initial September 11th Victim Compensation Fund overseen by special master Kenneth Feinberg.
