Matthew Shors
Partner
Matthew Shors is a partner in O’Melveny’s Washington, DC office. Matt focuses his practice on the defense of class actions, mass torts, and other aggregate proceedings, both at trial and on appeal. He has represented pharmaceutical manufacturers, energy companies, automobile manufacturers, transportation companies, health-care entities, insurance companies, and telecommunications companies in defending against hundreds of purported state, nationwide, and international class actions, as well as mass tort and other complex proceedings. Matt was recently named to
Law360’s list of the top 10 product liability attorneys under 40 nationwide.
Matt is also active in the Firm’s appellate and Supreme Court practice. He has argued before the Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate courts, state supreme courts, and state intermediate courts. He has worked on over 50 cases before the Supreme Court, at the certiorari stage and on the merits, on behalf of Fortune 100 and other companies, industry and other non-profit associations, members of Congress, individuals, and a local governmental entity. Matt has also assisted with successful efforts to overturn precedent-setting liability judgments, as well as substantial compensatory and punitive damage awards in other appellate courts, and Matt routinely represents industry associations on appeal such as the Product Liability Advisory Council, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, and the United States Chamber of Commerce, among others.
Combining his trial and appellate practices, Matt often assists trial teams with motions
in limine,
Daubert motions, motions for judgment as a matter of law, appellate planning, and post-trial motion practice. He has served in that capacity as lead counsel in multiple trials for clients such as Merck & Co., Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Matt is a frequent speaker on complex and appellate litigation topics. He has been an invited speaker before the American Bar Association, the American Conference Institute, the American Law Institute, the American Constitution Society, the Federalist Society, the American Insurance Association, the National Association of Consumer Credit Administrators, the Practicing Law Institute, and the American Financial Services Association, among others. Matt has also spoken at Harvard Law School, Northwestern Law School, Georgetown Law School, George Mason Law School, and George Washington Law School.
Matt also serves as Chair of the office’s Pro Bono Committee. On a pro bono basis, he has served as lead counsel in the US Supreme Court for groups such as the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for American Progress, the Sentencing Project, and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Illustrative Professional Experience
Class Action and Mass Tort Cases:
- In re Vioxx Products Liability Litigation
- In re Countrywide Sales Practices Litigation
- In re Radio Frequency Emissions Litigation
- In re National Security Agency Litigation
- In re Bridgestone/Firestone Tires Litigation
Appellate Cases:
- District of Columbia v. Heller
- Exxon Shipping Company v. Baker
- Ford Motor Co. v. Smith
- Cona/McDarby v. Merck & Co., Inc.
- Janssen Pharmaceutica v. Bailey/Armond
- Martha Stewart v. United States
Professional Activities
Law Clerk, Honorable Maxine Chesney, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Admitted, District of Columbia
Author, "Gun Points: History reveals a long-standing local authority to regulate guns. Shouldn't that matter?"
Slate (March 8, 2010) (with Saul Cornell and Justin Florence); “The Common Issue In Mass Tort Consolidation”
Law360 (September 22, 2009) (with Scott Edson); “Class Action Cops: Public Servants or Private Entrepreneurs,” 57
Stan. L. Rev. 1441 (April 2005); “In Defense of Eldred,”
IP Magazine (Spring 2003); “One Small Step for a County Court…One Giant Calamity for the National Legal System,”
Civil Justice Report (Center for Legal Policy, March 2003); “
United States v. Watts: Unanswered Questions, Acquittal Enhancements, and the Future of Due Process and the American Criminal Jury,” 50
Stan. L. Rev. 1349 (1998)
Member, Board of Directors, Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs; Young Professionals Leadership Board, National Association of Urban Debate Leagues