Brian W. Shaffer is the leader of the firm’s litigation practice in Philadelphia. He is a trial lawyer and commercial litigator with more than 25 years of experience handling high-profile and complex business disputes of all types. His clients include leading companies in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, technology, investment/financial services, medical device, energy, defense/aerospace, and construction industries. Brian handles class actions and other multi-party proceedings across the United States, and clients frequently turn to Brian to handle their most important legal problems.
Brian has tried to verdict jury, bench, and arbitration cases involving breach of contract, fraud, civil conspiracy, Lanham Act, product liability, and other claims in a number of different jurisdictions, and handles post-trial proceedings and appeals in state and federal courts around the country. He has a strong track record of success in these matters, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. On the plaintiff side, Brian has secured seven- and eight-figure verdicts and other important relief; on the defense side, he has successfully defeated and resolved nationwide class actions and other “bet the company” litigation through vigorous defense efforts and creative approaches to settlement.
Brian has an active and wide-ranging practice, including consumer protection claims brought by state Attorneys General and private plaintiffs, and litigation of cutting-edge matters involving complex healthcare arrangements and pharmaceutical development, promotion, and distribution. He also handles large construction disputes, corporate governance and shareholder matters, trusts, estates and fiduciary litigation, RICO and Lanham Act claims, and contractual disputes of all kinds. Brian is co-leader of the firm’s cross-practice National Laboratories Working Group, and also represents companies in disputes arising from renewable energy initiatives and sustainability goals, including solar projects and efforts to address climate change and carbon reduction.
Courts regularly cite significant decisions Brian has earned for his clients. In one case where Brian served as lead counsel for a major pharmaceutical company in litigation involving the 340B drug discount program, his client earned a unanimous US Supreme Court decision. Over the past decade, Brian has secured numerous favorable class action decisions in courts across the country in cases involving prescription drug benefits, healthcare services and pharmaceutical products. More recently, he has prevailed in several appeals in the Third Circuit, including a precedential ruling addressing the proper test for trademark ownership in a Lanham Act dispute between a manufacturer and its distributor, and two favorable rulings in favor of a client in a putative class action.
Brian is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School where he teaches a class on contracts and negotiations. As part of his active pro bono practice, Brian represents persecuted individuals seeking asylum in the United States.
Complex Commercial/Class Action Litigation (Plaintiff)
Complex Commercial/Class Action Litigation (Defendant)
Civil Fraud/Consumer Protection/False Claims Act
Government Programs and Construction Projects Litigation
Products Liability/Mass Torts
Pennsylvania Litigation Department of the Year, The American Lawyer (2022, 2023)
Best of the Bar, Business Litigation, Philadelphia Business Journal (2021)
Recommended, Dispute resolution: General commercial disputes, The Legal 500 US (2020)
Recognized, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants, Philadelphia, The Best Lawyers in America (2015–2024)
Recognized, Acritas Stars, Individual Star Lawyer (2018-2021)
Named, Modern Healthcare’s “Largest Healthcare Firm” (2016–2021)
Pennsylvania Product Liability Department of the Year, The Legal Intelligencer (2014)
Member, American Bar Association, Litigation Section
Member, Order of the Coif
University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Adjunct Professor