Seeger Weiss LLP

One of the nation’s preeminent plaintiffs’ law firms, Seeger Weiss is best known for multidistrict mass torts and class actions in both state and federal court—and especially for taking those cases to trial. From offices in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, the firm has represented over 10,000 individuals, companies, and governments across the United States who have been injured or defrauded on a massive scale.

Since its founding in 1999, it has led many of the most complex and high-profile cases in the country: the National Prescription Opiate Litigation, which the Washington Post called “the largest federal court case in U.S. history”; the ongoing “Dieselgate” scandal; the sprawling multistate litigation on behalf of survivors of child sexual abuse; and the history-making National Football League Players’ Concussion Injury Litigation.

With the resources and dedication to take on the world’s largest corporations, the firm has faced down the likes of Merck, Volkswagen, 3M, Syngenta, and the NFL—and secured justice for our clients. Working in a broad array of practice areas, the firm has a reputation for sticking with a case from beginning to end.

Former classmates at Cardozo Law School, Christopher A. Seeger and Stephen A. Weiss cofounded the firm after years of work at white-shoe firms Shearman & Sterling and Fried Frank. They wanted to sit on the other side of the table: not representing big corporations, but the many people who corporations had hurt. Not long after the firm’s founding, senior partner David R. Buchanan joined the team and formed the core of a formidable team of trial lawyers.

An early milestone, Seeger Weiss served at the helm of the nationwide Vioxx litigation against Merck, the manufacturers of the prescription arthritis drug now thought to lead to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The firm had prominent roles since the case’s inception in both the federal and New Jersey state court litigations: Seeger as co-lead of the plaintiffs’ steering committee in the Vioxx multidistrict litigation before the Honorable Eldon E. Fallon; Buchanan as co-liaison counsel in the New Jersey state Vioxx litigation before the Honorable Carol E. Higbee, J.S.C. “There is probably no other law firm as knowledgeable about Vioxx,” Judge Higbee wrote in a 2005 state class certification ruling. This comment, made by a judge in a particular case, is not an endorsement of the firm’s legal skill or ability.

Alongside these leadership roles, Seeger (as the co-lead trial counsel) and Buchanan, represented Frederick “Mike” Humeston in a jury trial that yielded the Vietnam veteran $47.5 million verdict. Months after achieving that verdict, Seeger—as a member of the Vioxx Negotiating Committee, concluded a $4.85 billion global settlement with Merck, covering more than 45,000 personal injury claims for heart attack, sudden cardiac death, and ischemic stroke. At the time, it represented the largest “global” settlement of personal injury claims stemming from a pharmaceutical product in U.S. history.

“Vioxx will always stand out for me no matter how many years pass,” Seeger told Lawdragonmagazine in 2020. “It was one of the largest and most important cases I’ve ever handled, and it was hand-to-hand combat for years. But the case was important for many more reasons. It has a huge impact on how clinical trial data gets reported, and it shined a light on the practice of concealing negative clinical trial information—or any negative information—about a drug being marketed.

”Seeger Weiss has gone on to helm numerous record-breaking litigations, yielding the largest consumer auto-industry class action settlement in U.S. history on behalf of drivers who bought Volkswagen’s so-called “Clean Diesel” cars in Volkswagen “Clean Diesel” Marketing, Sales Practices, & Products Liability Litigation; the largest agricultural settlement in U.S. history on behalf of farmers sold Syngenta GMO seeds in Syngenta AG MIR162 Corn Litigation; and a historic $1 billion-plus uncapped settlement on behalf of retired players and their families in National Football League Players’ Concussion Injury Litigation.

The firm has grown alongside its reputation in the more than two decades since its founding. With more than 100 employees and over 40 attorneys across the United States, Seeger Weiss opened its substantial new headquarters in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, in 2017.