Sheila S. Boston is a trial lawyer and litigation strategist who defends clients from initiation of the case through trial and/or settlement.
Sheila is valued by her clients for her advocacy skills, dependability, and collaborative spirit. Sheila has successfully litigated before both state and federal courts, with significant MDL experience in mass tort actions, providing litigation avoidance counseling, and conducting audits to evaluate the potential product-related liabilities in proposed corporate acquisitions and reorganizations. She helps her clients by assessing litigation risks and defending lucrative products by weeding out frivolous individual personal injury lawsuits, defending against class actions and mass torts, and devising creative settlement solutions.
Adept in "battle of the experts" litigation, Sheila has served as national coordinating counsel of experts, involving the retention, development and preparation of experts for depositions, Daubert/Frye hearings and trials; she has worked with numerous experts in various fields of medicine and science including, but not limited to, toxicology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, oncology, urology, hepatology, endocrinology, cardiology, psychology, and psychiatry.
A passionate advocate of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Sheila has won several awards for her efforts including the prestigious Chambers Diversity Awards USA 2016 inaugural award for her "outstanding contribution to furthering the advancement of diversity in the legal profession, private practice." An active participant in bar associations and the legal community at large, Sheila was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to serve a three-year term on New York's First Department Judicial Screening Committee as well as appointed by former Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to serve on the Circuit's Attorney Grievance Committee. Notably, Sheila is currently serving as the 69th President of the New York City Bar Association, and she is the first woman of color to serve in the position.
Experience
- Bayer Corporation, as co-trial counsel, in a personal injury action in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas involving the drug Xarelto, a blood thinner; defense verdict.
- Bayer Corporation, as co-trial counsel, in a personal injury action in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas involving the drug Yasmin, a birth control pill; settled favorably.
- Takeda, as co-trial counsel, in a personal injury action in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas involving the drug Actos, a diabetes medication; plaintiff verdict with low damages settled during appeal process.
- Darryl Scott Stinski, as co-trial counsel, in a pro bono post-conviction death penalty proceeding tried before a judge inside of a maximum security Georgia state prison; still pending. Stinski v. State of Georgia
- Secondment Participant in Trial Rotation Program, New York City Law Department, Tort Division — served as trial counsel for Bronx Tort Division for 9/3/13-1/10/14.
- Pfizer, as co-trial counsel, in the Rezulin (diabetes drug) Litigation in mass tort litigation including MDL in SDNY, class actions in U.S. and Canada, and state coordinated proceedings, as well as individual actions. Served as co-trial counsel in Mississippi and Alabama state cases and National Coordinator of Experts.
- Sodexho Inc., as co-trial counsel, in a promotion discrimination class action brought on behalf of more than 2,400 African-American mid-level manager plaintiffs; resolved favorably in $80 million settlement with injunctive relief.
Perspectives
Recognition
Product Liability Defense (New York) (2012-2018, 2023)
Life Sciences: Product Liability (New York) (2014, 2016, 2018)
Credentials
Education
- J.D., Columbia Law School, 1993
- A.B., Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 1990
Admissions
- New York
- Supreme Court of the United States
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
Activities
- President, New York City Bar Association
- Member, Second Circuit Attorney Grievance Committee
- NY Governor Appointee/Member, New York's First Department Judicial Screening Committee
- Chair, Federal Bar Council Board
- Chair, DRI's Drug and Medical Device Seminar
- Chair, Minority Partners in Majority Firms Division, National Bar Association
- Member, New York State Bar Association
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Federal Bar Council
- Member, National Bar Association
- Member, Metropolitan Black Bar Association
- Member, New York Bar Foundation Fellow
- Member, Defense Research Institute (DRI)
- Member, Board of Governors, National Bar Association