Geoffrey M. Drake

• Lead Counsel to TikTok Inc. in nationwide litigation in which individual plaintiffs allege personal injuries and school districts and other governmental entities allege economic damages arising from adolescent use of various online communications services, including in the In re Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Litigation MDL pending in the Northern District of California and the In re Social Media Cases JCCP pending in Los Angeles County.
• Lead counsel to Activision Blizzard in connection with nationwide lawsuits alleging a variety of personal injuries and psychiatric harms arising from addiction to playing video games. In 2024, Geoffrey successfully argued on behalf of more than a dozen game developers and platforms in opposition to a petition to consolidate then-pending lawsuits in a federal MDL.
• Representing Renco Group and Doe Run Resources in mass tort litigation in two consolidated proceedings in federal court in St. Louis concerning personal-injury allegations by several thousand Peruvians citizens allegedly harmed by exposure to lead and other contaminants from a smelter in the Andean Highlands of Peru.
• Co-Coordinating and Strategic Counsel to a U.S. automobile manufacturer in connection with thousands of California consumer fraud and breach of warranty lawsuits; previously co-led team representing another U.S. automobile manufacturer in hundreds of consumer-fraud lawsuits in California.
• National Counsel to Viking Group, Inc. with respect to claims and lawsuits relating to property damage arising from alleged manufacturing or design defects in fire suppression equipment.
• Representing a large industrial real estate company in connection with hundreds of lawsuits in Georgia state courts alleging cancers and personal injuries, as well as property devaluation, from exposure to ethylene oxide from a lessee's medical-device-sterilization operation.
• Serving as one of a core group of partners leading the national coordinating and trial counsel team representing GlaxoSmithKline in nationwide litigation concerning allegations of suicidality and birth defects from use of the company’s antidepressant.
• Representing Coloplast as part of the team serving as National Coordinating and Trial Counsel in nationwide product liability litigation relating to injuries allegedly caused by the company’s female pelvic mesh devices.
• Represented Merck in multidistrict litigation (MDL) involving allegations of injuries from use of the company’s osteoporosis medication, including in three bellwether trials in two different MDLs. In Glynn v. Merck, the jury returned a complete defense verdict, after which the court granted judgment based on federal preemption.
• Represented the manufacturer of FDA-cleared surgical gowns in nationwide litigation concerning the design, labeling, advertising and manufacture of the devices, including: a federal class action trial; a qui tam suit brought under the Federal False Claims Act in which the court granted defendants' motion to dismiss; and a federal Lanham Act lawsuit concerning allegations of false marketing.
• Co-led several 360-degree risk assessments for a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in connection with the launch of new medications.
• Representing healthcare companies and employers in multiple COVID-19-related wrongful death lawsuits.
• Represented Purdue Pharma in an action filed by the Kentucky Attorney General seeking Medicaid-related costs and other damages allegedly caused by the company’s marketing and promotion of its prescription pain medication.
• Represented DaVita Healthcare Partners in a qui tam case brought under the federal False Claims Act claiming improper billing of Medicare for unnecessary wastage of two medications used to treat dialysis patients.
• Represented a leading automobile manufacturer in connection with government investigations and multi-jurisdictional civil litigation relating to a series of high-profile vehicle recalls.
• Represented the owner of petroleum pipeline terminals in federal MDL proceedings in an action filed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General involving claims of groundwater contamination from MTBE-containing gasoline.
• Represented Lincoln Electric Company and other manufacturers in cases involving claims from exposure to manganese fumes from welding rods, and serving as national discovery counsel in the litigation for Eutectic Corporation.
• Represented Cooper Industries, the successor of a former operator of a Superfund site, in litigation involving allegations of a variety of personal injuries from PCB exposure.
• Represented Phillips Services Corp. in a class action lawsuit involving nuisance allegations arising from the release of odors from a wastewater treatment facility.

Geoffrey Drake is a member of the firm's Policy Committee. Geoffrey is also Chair of our Consumer Products & Automotive Litigation Team, which Legal 500 has recognized as one of the top five such practices in the country. Before that, Geoffrey led our Pharmaceutical/Medical Device Litigation Team. Geoffrey represents life sciences, automotive and transportation, technology and energy/mining companies in high-profile product liability, toxic tort and mass tort litigation, for which he has extensive experience litigating all phases of individual, MDL and class action cases, as well as serving as coordinating and strategic counsel in connection with large dockets of cases at the federal and state levels. Clients recently described Geoffrey to Chambers USA as "extraordinary," "incredibly talented," a "clear communicator," "very smart and strategic," "very calm," "good on his feet," a "trusted adviser and advocate," "an effective leader," and "a common-sense litigator." In particular, clients compliment Geoffrey's ability to bring "strategic insight and creativity to the table," while also doing "an excellent job imposing order on chaos."

An experienced litigator, Geoffrey represents clients in nationwide, high-exposure product liability, mass tort, class action, toxic tort and whistleblower litigation, along with internal and government investigations. He litigates all phases of cases in federal and state courts nationwide, including in the most challenging jurisdictions for corporate clients. From the start, Geoffrey handles each matter with a view toward trial, considering how to communicate effectively to a jury a host of complex scientific, technical and regulatory issues. Geoffrey also has significant experience with legal project management, having helped structure, lead and manage several large, cross-practice, cross-office matters, including to design and implement sophisticated budgets and alternative billing arrangements and manage the organization, workflow and staffing plans to deliver the client exceptional and efficient services.

Geoffrey chairs our nationally recognized Consumer Products & Automotive Litigation Team. And for five years before that, he chaired our leading Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Litigation Team. He is ranked by Chambers USA in Product Liability (Band Six: Nationwide; Band One: Georgia) and has been recommended by Legal 500 as a Key Lawyer in consumer products litigation, automotive litigation and pharmaceutical and medical device litigation for the past several years. In 2026, Geoffrey was recognized with the "Distinguished Leader Award" by the Southeastern Legal Awards. In 2025, Lawdragon recognized Geoffrey on its inaugural list of the 500 Leading Global Entertainment, Sports & Media Lawyers. Geoffrey co-authored the leading treatise, Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy, 2nd Edition (Oxford Univ. Press).

Geoffrey was elected to a 3-year term on the firm's Policy Committee in December 2024.