John Ewald is a litigation partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. John is a nationally recognized trial lawyer, focusing his practice on product liability, toxic tort and environmental tort cases for clients in the consumer product, chemical, pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
John recently won a complete defense verdict in a six-week bellwether trial in Colorado where the four plaintiffs collectively asked the jury for nearly half a billion dollars in damages. John is particularly known for his work in class actions and mass torts alleging injuries from facilities’ air emissions, including ethylene oxide litigation involving chemical manufacturers and the sterilization of medical products.
He serves as trial counsel for Johnson & Johnson in lawsuits alleging its talcum powder products caused mesothelioma and ovarian cancer, with a 2018 success named one of the “Top Product Liability Cases of 2018” by Law360, and a 2019 success deemed one of the “Top Defense Verdicts of 2019” by The Daily Journal. John also works on developing and coordinating the company’s national scientific and medical defense in the litigation.
