BigLaw Leader and Strategist Jumps to Shook

LOS ANGELES, March 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Shook, Hardy & Bacon welcomes Partner Alycia Degen to the firm's world-renowned Product Liability Litigation Practice. After co-leading a highly-respected product liability and mass tort practice at an AmLaw 10 firm, Degen's move is a natural fit for Shook. Recognized as a strategist, Degen serves as lead and coordinating counsel in product liability and class action litigation across a broad array of industries, and focuses on life sciences industries, where Shook excels as a global leader.

"I've collaborated with Shook attorneys for decades on some of the most complex and high-stakes litigations. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to join these colleagues at a platform that is consistent with my clients' business priorities," said Degen from her Los Angeles office. "I've witnessed firsthand how the depth of Shook's bench in the product liability space, plus the firm's culture of real collaboration, brings about winning results for clients. I am excited to be here and part of this team."

Degen brings 24 years of litigation acumen in state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and has led the defense of some of the largest California coordinated product liability litigations (JCCPs). In addition to pharmaceuticals and medical devices, she counsels and has advocated for clients facing litigation in other industries including food, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, manufacturing, and automotive, among others. She also counsels clients on strategies to avoid litigation and mitigate product and marketing risk, and is seasoned in guiding clients through significant product recalls and the regulatory, litigation and reputational risks that often surround them.

Degen previously practiced with a group of Shook lawyers who now compose the firm's Los Angeles office, which opened with five lawyers in 2019 and has grown to more than 20 attorneys. Partner Michael Mallow, a class action litigator, leads the office. 

"We are thrilled to have Alycia bring her strategic judgment and client focus to Shook. It's a welcome reunion and enhances our growth in the Los Angeles and West Coast markets," said Mallow, co-chair of Shook's Class Action and Appellate Litigation Practice.

Degen is a member of the Defense Research Institute (DRI), the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, and the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association of Los Angeles. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri and her law degree from the UCLA School of Law. She clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals following law school. She prioritizes pro bono and was part of a team who earned the ACLU of Southern California's Immigrant Justice Award in 2019.

ALM selected Shook as a finalist for Litigation Department of the Year – Product Liability in 2023. Partners Katie Gates Calderon, Hildy Sastre, and William Geraghty, all trial lawyers, lead the practice.

The firm has West Coast offices in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Francisco.

About Shook, Hardy & Bacon
Founded in 1889, Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. has 19 offices in the United States and London, with attorneys and professional staff serving clients in the health, science and technology sectors in areas ranging from product liability defense and business litigation to intellectual property prosecution and litigation, environmental and toxic tort, privacy and data security and regulatory counseling.

SOURCE Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.