Heather K. McDevitt
Biography
Overview
Heather is a Commercial Litigation partner and a member of the Firm's four-member global Executive Committee. She has served the Firm in numerous leadership roles in the past, including most recently as the head of the Firm's Global Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Group, which pools the talents of more than 100 senior lawyers with regulatory, litigation, antitrust, M&A, corporate and tax experience.
Heather has significant experience for pharmaceutical, consumer goods and oil and gas clients, among others, in a wide variety of disputes and other matters.
She focuses on complex matters and has litigated cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout the United States.
Heather also has devoted substantial time and energies to pro bono capital representation throughout the course of her career, and led the Eighth Amendment challenge to Alabama's method of execution by lethal injection. She also is a member of the Board of Directors of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
Experience
Multiple False Claims Act Cases Involving Prescription Drug Pricing
Heather represents a major generic drug manufacturer facing a number of cases brought by State Attorneys General and private payers alleging false claims act, fraud and unfair trade practice/consumer protection act claims. The cases are based on contentions that that drug manufacturers reported inaccurate pricing information which allegedly caused state Medicaid agencies to overpay for prescription drugs.
Consumer Class Action for Leading Energy Company
Heather represents a leading energy company in a putative consumer class action alleging breach of warranty claims in connection with deliveries of allegedly adulterated heating oil.
Dismissal of employment discrimination and wage and hour claims
Heather represented a leading pharmaceutical company in putative class actions involving claims under Title VII and the wage and hour laws, and obtained dismissal of all claims on grounds of corporate separateness and plaintiffs' failure to justify piercing the corporate veil.
One of largest-ever bankruptcy adversary proceedings in the US
Heather represented a major overseas bank in one of the largest bankruptcy adversary proceedings ever filed in the US. The claims included, inter alia, fraudulent conveyance, equitable subordination and aiding and abetting breaches of fiduciary duty.
Success in pharmaceutical monopolization case
Heather represented a major pharmaceutical manufacturer in a monopolization case involving allegations of fraud on the United States Patent and Trademark office. She obtained successful resolution on the eve of trial.
Health insurers take on tobacco industry
Heather represented a coalition of major health insurers in litigation against the tobacco industry. The 10-week jury trial culminated in the first verdict against the tobacco industry by a third-party payer.
Additional examples of Heather's representative matters are available upon request.
Breaking Through the Cloud: Privacy and Ethics in an Accelerating Digital Health Age, November 2014: W&C's "Digital Health: The Path Forward" conference, Palo Alto, CA
Life Sciences Star, LMG Life Sciences, July 2017, July 2016, July 2015
Recognized in Top Women in Litigation, Benchmark Litigation, July 2019, July 2018, July 2017, July 2016, July 2015
Two-time recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Award awarded by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York for post-conviction capital defense work in Alabama and leading the Eighth Amendment challenges to Alabama's method of execution by lethal injection
