Laura litigates cases in multiple state and federal courts across the country, including trying matters in notoriously difficult jurisdictions for corporate defendants. She has more than 20 years of experience in complex litigation, focused in the heavily regulated rail and the long-term care industries. She was a member of several trial teams obtaining defense verdicts in FELA litigation.
She was counsel to several cross-functional strategic quality improvement teams in the rail industry, advising on operational, commercial, safety and health, compliance, and labor issues. She was national counsel to a class I railroad for over 10 years, developing and implementing a national strategy for litigation best practices significantly reducing costs and outcomes. She is a 2014 recipient of the “Outstanding Service” award from the Union Pacific Railroad Law Department.
Laura developed and led a centralized discovery and eDiscovery process for a Fortune 100 company and is a frequent lecturer on discovery issues relevant to mass tort litigation. She approaches this unique litigation by partnering with her clients’ system-wide business interests in developing centralized strategies that match their unique needs, including recent challenges faced during the pandemic by these essential industries.
She has challenged scientific and medical expert opinion evidence throughout various jurisdictions, including opinion evidence in the fields of epidemiology, industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, toxicology, pathology, orthopedics, oncology, neurology, and neuropsychiatry. Her experience further includes toxic tort litigation, product liability, class actions, commercial litigation, catastrophic personal injury litigation, sexual abuse litigation, and health care litigation.
Laura earned her J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh. While at Pitt, Laura was a four-year varsity letter winner in swimming, three-time All-American Big East Scholar, and team captain. She is a 2019 recipient of the Pitt Varsity Letter Club Awardee of Distinction.
She is active in community service, having served on the Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club Board, Mt. Lebanon Library Board, and Keystone Wellness Board. She is presently serving on the boards of the Mt. Lebanon Choral Parent Association and the Western Pennsylvania Country Club Swimming Association.