Much of Jim Freebery’s practice is devoted to serving as national coordinating counsel to multinational pharmaceutical companies in high-stakes mass-tort product liability actions and multi-district litigations. He plays a central, hands-on role responding to clients’ needs and directing and implementing overall litigation and trial strategy, including preparing senior executives for testimony. Jim also has extensive experience advising clients on strategic litigation and settlement decisions – as well as litigation avoidance – in commercial matters.
In numerous nationwide litigations, Jim has collaborated with counsel on defense steering committees as lead defensive discovery counsel, appearing in court and managing all aspects of e-discovery. A member of the Sedona Conference® Working Group on Electronic Document Retention and Production, Jim’s experience includes management of what was at the time the largest and most compressed e-discovery production effort ever.
An active leader at the firm, Jim served two consecutive terms on the firm’s Executive Committee. He currently serves on McCarter’s award-winning Women’s Initiative and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and is excited to be a part of the newly formed McCarter & English Social Justice Project (“MESJP”) Task Force. The MESJP will work to attain our firm goals of advancing social justice and structural reform. The Task Force will be charged with strategically deploying the firm’s resources to systemically and systematically impact several of the issues that are root causes of widespread racial inequity. We will expand our existing pro bono and community service initiatives to engage attorneys and staff from all offices in this effort, and develop both internal and external programming to deepen our understanding of the pervasive racial inequities in our country, and the consequences of those inequities. Jim also serves on the firm’s E-Discovery Committee, Cannabis Working Group, Green Initiative, and Veteran’s Initiative.
Before joining the firm, Jim was a Deputy Attorney General in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice for the State of Delaware, where he prosecuted hundreds of bench and jury trials to verdict, including multiple prosecutions for capital murder.
Jim attended law school at the University of Notre Dame and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Delaware.
