Vlahakos, Paula Athas

I am proud to be a trial lawyer.  For the majority of my career in Texas, I have had the honor and privilege of representing families who have lost a loved one, people who have been injured, and small business owners who have been victimized by predatory competitors. 

For nearly 20 years, my focus has been primarily on national drug litigation.  Initially my drug litigation focus was representing families against producers of SSRI antidepressant drugs regarding failure to warn claims about violence and suicide.  Today, the main focus is on pernicious side effects from Abbott's multibillion dollar medication "Humira."  In addition to SSRI cases, our Firm's drug litigation practice has expanded and now includes cases involving drug injuries and medical device malfunctions. 

In 1997, I was invited to join the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), an organization which is composed of both plaintiffs' and defendants' counsel.  It is one of the few organizations in the legal profession that you can't simply join; you have to be invited by your peers.  My rank of "Advocate" means that, as of that time, I had tried in excess of 50 jury cases through to verdict.

In the summer of 2002, I spent 22 days in TRIAL LAWYERS' COLLEGE at Gerry Spence's ranch in Dubois, Wyoming.  Gerry, my second mentor in 30 years of law practice, re-emphasized three basic tenets that I try to follow in my law practice:  (1) Listen to your client with both your ears and all of your heart, (2) Tell their story - passionately but honestly; and then (3) completely trust the jury to do the right thing. After graduating from Trial Lawyers College, I have now served for several years on the Faculty of the College. 

Jury verdicts change society.  I am proud to say that I have been involved in several jury verdicts that I like to think are quite significant in the world of pharmaceutical litigation.  One of which is Tobin vs. SmithKline - On June 6, 2001, my client was awarded $6.4 million with a guilty verdict against SmithKline.  This was the first guilty verdict returned against a pharmaceutical company in a trial about adverse behavioral effects of a physchotropic drug.  In 2004, the FDA mandated black box warnings about the risk of antidepressant-induced suicidality, which SmithKline had denied, but which we proved to exist in the Tobin case.