Daniel Thornburgh

Daniel Thornburgh has been a partner at Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz (AWKO) since 2010 and practices almost exclusively in the areas of complex pharmaceutical and medical device products liability litigation.  He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of West Florida, where he studied Legal Administration.  In 2004, Mr. Thornburgh attended Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where he received his Juris Doctorate degree and graduated with honors (cum laude).  Mr. Thornburgh is currently licensed to practice law in Florida and Minnesota state courts, the United States District Court for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida, and the United States District Court of Minnesota.

Mr. Thornburgh was recently appointed by Judge John Padova to the Plaintiffs Steering Committee and Plaintiffs’ Discovery Co-Chair in the Essure products liability matter pending before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Thornburgh is frequently invited to participate in legal seminars and symposiums and has traveled the country speaking about his experience litigating complex medical device and pharmaceutical products liability matters.

Prior to his involvement in the Abilify MDL, Mr. Thornburgh was heavily involved in the Transvaginal Mesh (TVM) MDLs and, in that role, participated in reviewing thousands of documents, deposed many corporate witnesses, 30(b)(6) corporate designees and other fact witnesses. Mr. Thornburgh was involved in several trials which resulted in multimillion-dollar jury verdicts or mid-trial settlements, including Engleman v. Ethicon, et al. where Mr. Thornburgh obtained a $20 Million verdict on behalf of an AWKO client. Because of his experience, skill, and dedication, Mr. Thornburgh is often asked by PSC and Executive Committee members to become involved in MDLs throughout the country, and he consistently plays a pivotal role in numerous MDLs against various Fortune 500 companies, including Wyeth, Pfizer, GSK, Johnson & Johnson and many others.

In the Abilify MDL, Mr. Thornburgh again played a critical role, and his work substantially contributed to the overall common benefit and global settlement reached earlier this year.  In the Abilify MDL, Mr. Thornburgh took the depositions of numerous corporate witnesses, 30(b)(6) corporate designees, and bellwether fact witnesses, and developed trial themes. Mr. Thornburgh became an important member of the Abilify litigation team and, along with others, spent considerable time with their trial consultant focusing the key Abilify trial strategy and creating a trial package, including visual demonstratives, that could be used in any trial throughout the country.