Thomas Riley

Tom represents clients in complex commercial and cross-border litigation. He also defends manufacturing clients against products liability and other claims by consumers, including class actions and claims based upon alleged deceptive advertising and marketing. His work on behalf of products manufacturers often extends to regulatory matters as well as to the defence of litigation brought by consumers outside the United States.  

He has successfully defended U.S. and non-U.S. companies in trials and on appeals in New York, and throughout the United States.  

Tom works with clients in a variety of sectors on cross-border matters, frequently involving the coordination of litigation across multiple jurisdictions. His products liability work has encompassed some of the most significant class actions in the U.S. in recent years.  

Tom has been recognized in Benchmark Litigation as a Litigation Star and a Local Litigation Star in New York for the past eight years. He recently co-authored "Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts, Fourth Edition" (Robert L. Haig, ed.), Thomson Reuters & ABA (2016), Chapter 78: Regulatory Litigation; "Recent Developments in Products Liability," Tort Trial & Insurance Law Journal, Winter 2017 (52:2) and "Recent Developments in Products Liability," Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal, Winter 2016 (51:2).

Background

Prior to entering private practice, Tom served as a Law Clerk for U.S. District Court Judge John T. Elfvin in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, from 1980-1982. A 1979 graduate of New York University School of Law, he was a Research Editor and Staff Member for the New York University Journal of International Law and Politics. He obtained a B.A. from Binghamton University in 1976.  

He is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Veterans Legal Services Program.