Malini Moorthy Joins Bayer as U.S. Head of Litigation

WHIPPANY, N.J., July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer Corporation today announced the appointment of Malini Moorthy as Head of the Litigation Department in the United States, effective July 30.  She succeeds Kaspar Stoffelmayr, whose three-year assignment ended and has rejoined Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP.

Ms. Moorthy brings extensive litigation experience and unparalleled knowledge of the legal issues facing the health care industry to her new role.  Ms. Moorthy will be responsible for managing and directing all major litigation matters of Bayer Corporation and the U.S. operating companies, including Bayer HealthCare, Bayer MaterialScience and Bayer CropScience.

Ms. Moorthy will report directly to Lars Benecke, General Counsel, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer of Bayer Corporation.

"We are proud and excited that Malini is joining Bayer to lead our U.S. Litigation Department," Benecke said.  "As a highly successful and respected lawyer, Malini comes to us with a proven track record in the litigation field.  She is an impressive leader who will greatly enrich the Bayer legal team."

Ms. Moorthy joins Bayer from Pfizer Inc., where she held leadership roles in the company's litigation group for 10 years.  Most recently, she served as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel and Head of Civil Litigation, where she managed Pfizer's civil litigation docket and set strategy in the areas of product liability, securities, antitrust, commercial and asbestos-related litigation.  In addition, she managed e-discovery operations and civil justice reform. 

"I have long admired Bayer and its commitment to use science and innovation to improve the quality of life,"  Ms. Moorthy said.  "I am delighted to be joining a company with such a meaningful mission and such a strong and dedicated leadership team and culture that is committed to ensuring that it is fulfilled."

While at Pfizer, Ms. Moorthy gained widespread attention for her handling of some of the most challenging mass torts in the biopharmaceutical industry, garnering numerous professional awards and honors in the process.  

In 2013, she was named to Inside Counsel magazine's R3-100 List identifying the 100 leading women attorneys most likely to become general counsels within three years.  In addition, Ms. Moorthy and her team were honored with the In-House Counsel Litigation Team of the Year Award in 2012 by the publication Benchmark Litigation.

"With Malini's addition, Bayer gains even further breadth and depth among its formidable legal talent," said Tripp Haston, co-chair of the Life Sciences Industry Team for Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.  "Over the course of the past decade, I've worked closely with both Malini while at Pfizer, as well as Bayer's legal team on numerous major matters.  Malini's broad experience, global perspective, sound judgment and team approach will serve Bayer extremely well."

Prior to joining Pfizer, Ms. Moorthy spent many years as a litigation associate at law firms in the United States and Canada, including the New York office of Salans, now known as Dentons, and Genest Murray Desbrisay Lamek and McCarthy Tetrault, both in Toronto. 

She received her bachelor's degree with honors in political science and economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead Scholar, and her law degree from Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, where she was the editor of the Queen's Law Review. 

Before beginning her corporate law career, Ms. Moorthy served as Executive Director of Free the Children in Toronto, an international children's organization dedicated to ending the exploitation of children and empowering children through leadership development and training.  Ms. Moorthy currently serves as the chair of the Advisory Council of the Duke Law Distinguished Lawyers Series and on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. 

About Bayer Corporation
Bayer Corporation is a subsidiary of Bayer AG, a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials.  As an inventor company, Bayer sets trends in research-intensive areas.  Bayer products and services are designed to benefit people and improve the quality of life.  At the same time, Bayer aims to create value through innovation, growth and high earning power.  Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development and acts as a socially and ethically responsible corporate citizen. In fiscal 2013, Bayer employed 113,200 people at year-end and had sales of €40.2 billion. In North America, Bayer had 2013 net sales of €9,680 million ($12,874 million) and employed 15,200 at year-end. For more information, go to www.bayerus.com.

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Forward Looking Statement
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer Web site at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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SOURCE Bayer Corporation