Chris Arledge Joins Shook's Product Liability Litigation Practice as Partner in Southern California

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Shook, Hardy & Bacon is pleased to announce the addition of Chris Arledge as a partner in Los Angeles and Orange County, joining the firm's Product Liability Litigation, Business Litigation and Intellectual Property practices.

A trial lawyer first and foremost, Arledge has first chaired more than 35 trials and arbitrations to a verdict or award, the majority of which were jury trials. This includes the full range of business disputes, from intellectual property cases (copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secrets) to contract disputes, employment disputes (including sexual harassment and sexual assault), fraud, defamation and wrongful death, and personal injury cases arising out of gas-pipeline explosions.

"Chris brings the kind of judgment and courtroom presence that clients need when the stakes are high and going to trial is a real possibility," said James Shepherd, co-chair of Shook's Product Liability Litigation practice. "He adds significant experience to our California team and will be a valuable resource for clients facing complex litigation in California and across the country."

Arledge has obtained multimillion dollar verdicts for plaintiffs, including a $34.9 million trademark verdict, one of the largest verdicts in California that year and one of the largest trademark verdicts in the country in recent years, a $7 million verdict in a trade-secrets case, a $5.2 million verdict in a fraud case and multimillion-dollar verdicts in contract, counterfeiting, patent and other business disputes.  

"Chris makes complex issues understandable and persuasive for judges and juries," said Shook Chair Madeleine McDonough. "His experience in intellectual property and commercial disputes strengthens not just our Los Angeles team but our national litigation platform."

Arledge has also obtained defense verdicts in high-stakes trials for companies that are not often treated sympathetically by juries, such as a sexual assault/sexual harassment case brought by a young female employee against a corporate defendant and in a nine-figure defamation against a public utility company.  

"Shook is a trial lawyer's firm, and I'm thrilled to get the chance to work alongside some of the best trial lawyers in the country," said Arledge.

He is also an experienced and highly regarded teacher of trial advocacy. This includes being a member of the faculty of the Keble Advanced International Advocacy Program at Oxford University, one of the most-prestigious trial programs in the English-speaking world and teaching for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and at the Advanced Advocacy Course in Dublin, Ireland. Arledge also developed and taught the trial academy at his previous firm and has given advocacy presentations at numerous Am Law 100 firms. He is also the co-author of "To Prove, To Please, To Move: Timeless Principles of Trial Advocacy."

About Shook, Hardy & Bacon

Founded in 1889, Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. has 18 offices in the United States 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.