Bettina J. Strauss
Bettina J. Strauss
Bettina J. Strauss
Biography
Bettina serves as co-leader of the firm's Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Class Action and Mass Tort Team. She was the leader of the firm’s Product Liability Client Service Group from 2006 to 2014. She focuses her practice on the defense of companies facing liability in connection with products in all types of proceedings including consolidated actions, MDL proceedings and class actions. She has extensive experience in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation. She also has defended automotive litigation for the entirety of her career. She has a national practice, defending cases in state and federal courts across the country from New Jersey to California. Her cases routinely involve multi-million dollar risk in some of the most difficult venues in the country, including three well known trial courts in her home area: the City of St. Louis, Missouri and Madison and St. Clair Counties in Illinois.
Bettina is a trial lawyer who has led and co-chaired the defense of companies in venues across the country. She has experience on national and regional counsel teams in both product liability and product-related class actions. She has worked with lawyers throughout the United States and on many cooperative teams with other firms including but not limited to multi-firm trial and defense teams. She is a member of the prestigious Product Liability Advisory Counsel. She has defended product cases for a wide variety of companies in various industries including automotive, pharmaceutical, child-products, medical devices, chemicals, industrial equipment and many consumer products.
Bettina has worked with medical, engineering and other technical experts in many different fields and is experienced at mastering the technical issues involved in developing company defenses. She enjoys the art of preparing company witnesses to adjust to and excel in the litigation arena. She aggressively prepares her cases and develops facts to support Daubert and other legal challenges. She is a problem solver who connects with her clients, learns their products and works vigorously and creatively to extricate them from the dangerous litigation they face.
Areas of Focus
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Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices (Class Actions)
Civic Involvement & Honors
- Best Lawyers in America, Product Liability Litigation, 2025
- Best Lawyers in America, Mass Tort/Class Action Litigation, 2025
- Benchmark Litigation Top 250 Women in Litigation, 2011 – 2025
- Chambers USA - Missouri Litigation: General Commercial, 2013-2024
- Super Lawyers - St. Louis: Products Liability 2011-2022
- Expert Guides: Women in Business Law 2020-2021
- Legal 500, 2019
- Martindale-Hubbell® Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™ 2011
- Benchmark Litigation Missouri Local Litigation Star
- Benchmark Litigation U.S. Litigation Star
- Georgetown University – Managing Editor, The Tax Lawyer; Legal research and writing fellowship
Professional Affiliations
- Product Liability Advisory Council
- Defense Research Institute
- American Bar Association
- The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
- Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers
- Women Lawyers Association
Admissions
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Illinois, 1994
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Missouri, 1993
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United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri, and Northern and Southern Districts of Illinois
Education
Georgetown University, J.D., 1993
Saint Louis University, B.A., cum laude, 1990
Related Practice Areas
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Class Actions & Mass Torts
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Financial Services
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Litigation & Dispute Resolution
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Antitrust Class Actions
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Shareholder Securities and Mergers & Acquisitions
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Food, Ag & Nutrition (Class Actions)
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Regulation, Compliance & Advisory
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Catastrophic Accidents
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Consumer Fraud
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Consumer Products
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Food, Ag & Nutrition
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Insurance (Class Actions)
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Class Actions
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Mass Torts & Product Liability
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Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices (Class Actions)
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Employment Class & Collective Actions
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Sports (Class Actions)
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Data Privacy, Telecommunications & Collections
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Toxic Tort
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Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices (Mass Torts)
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Aviation, Aerospace & Defense
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Healthcare & Life Sciences
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Business & Commercial Disputes
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