Laura Lawson

Laura B. Lawson represents design professionals and owners as part of her construction law practice. She also defends the manufacturers of medical devices in product liability actions, and one of the world’s largest employers in its personal injury litigation nationwide.

Construction and Design: Laura is co-leader of a construction law team providing outside general counsel services for one of the top design firms in the country and for multiple contractors and owners who undertake construction projects.

Her work with these clients involves: drafting, reviewing, and negotiating design and construction form contracts (AIA, AGC, EJCDEC) and original contracts; defending professional negligence cases, which includes drafting pleadings, drafting and responding to discovery, taking and defending depositions, preparing witnesses for deposition, trial, arbitration and developing trial or arbitration strategy; negotiating and resolving disputes with contractors, clients, and subconsultants; supervising local counsel assigned to defend lawsuits in other jurisdictions; and responding to subpoenas and open records requests and other day-to-day legal issues that may arise.

Product Liability: Laura helped one of the major medical device manufacturers in the country transfer and consolidate all of its nationwide litigation with Shook, Hardy & Bacon. Ten years later, Laura still defends this company against individual and complex product liability cases involving a variety of products from surgical staplers and ventilators to dental needles.

On behalf of this client, Laura recently resolved hundreds of lawsuits consolidated in Cook County, Illinois, and in an MDL in the Northern District of Ohio, without the client paying a single cent in settlement costs. Laura has represented this client on a flat-fee basis for several years.

Personal Injury: Laura is a key member of a team that acts as personal injury national counsel for one of the largest employers in the world. The representation involves aggressively defending or making strategic settlement recommendations in a wide variety of personal injury claims across the country.

Laura has tried several personal injury cases, all of which resulted in a favorable outcome for the clients involved.

Before joining Shook, Laura clerked for the Kansas Supreme Court for three years. She is a member of the firm’s Professional Development Committee, where she develops writing and deposition seminars for new associates. Laura was the 2017 recipient of Shook’s award for Excellence in Professional Development.

Education:

• J.D., University of Kansas School of Law, 1995
• B.A., summa cum laude, Baker University, 1992

Bar Admissions:

• Kansas
• Missouri
• U.S. District Court, District of Kansas
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma

Memberships:

• National Institute for Construction Excellence, Board Member
• American Arbitration Association, Panel Member (2014)