Dan focuses his litigation practice on product liability matters, mass torts, and class actions, serving clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer products, railroad, tobacco, chemical, and automotive industries. Drawing on his experience as a judicial clerk for state and federal appellate judges where he drafted dozens of published opinions and advised judges on the issues and appeals that came before them, Dan offers clients unique insights on matters of legal strategy and advocacy.
Dan stays abreast of legal developments and trends in order to better serve clients. He has authored several articles, including co-authoring an article on a circuit split over the interpretation of Federal Rule 23(c)(4) and “issue class” certification. He also gave a CLE presentation on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s TransUnion decision on Article III standing in class action litigation.
Dan is actively involved in Shook’s pro bono practice, representing clients in landlord-tenant and immigration matters. In one case, Dan served as the lead attorney in an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals that successfully obtained a reversal and discretionary relief from deportation for his client, a U.S. military veteran with PTSD.
Before joining Shook, Dan was a judicial law clerk for the Hon. L. Steven Grasz, Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the Hon. John F. Wright, Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court. Prior to entering the legal profession, Dan was a social worker at Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska, serving children in a short-term shelter program as well as those with severe behavioral and psychological disorders in a residential treatment facility.
Representative Matters
Wrote briefs on expert witness motions in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) matter on behalf of a medical device manufacturer;
Represented a pharmaceutical company in tort claims related to alleged illegal sales practices;
Coordinated legal strategy on transferring and consolidating copycat class action cases for a consumer goods manufacturer;
Developed legal strategy for an automotive client facing class action litigation regarding the alleged failure to comply with a state law mandate to warrant emissions-related parts;
Led team efforts on key third-party discovery efforts for a pharmaceutical company in a large MDL;
Drafted jury instructions and a directed verdict motion while providing legal issues and appellate preservation support for a trial team in a smoking-and-health wrongful death case for a tobacco client; and
Defended a railroad client against novel public nuisance claims.
Publications and Presentations
CLE: Class Certification After TransUnion v. Ramirez: Assessing Intangible Injuries, Article III Standing, Strafford Webinar, July 21, 2021 (with Christopher R. Wray and Robert Neary).
Will the Supreme Court Finally Resolve the Circuit Split over Rule 23(C)(4) Issue Class Actions?, Mealey's Litigation Report: Class Actions, June 4, 2021 (with Timothy E. Congrove & James P. Muehlberger).
Third-Party Litigation Financing: Legal and Ethical Issues & Proposals for Mandatory Disclosure, Nebraska Lawyer, September/October 2017.
Issue Preclusion and the ITC’s Section 337 Investigations: A Reconsideration in Light of B&B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc., Creighton International and Comparative Law Journal, 2016.
Section 101 Challenges in the Courts and at the PTAB, ABA Intellectual Property Litigation, June 16, 2015.
Patent Office Backlog Adds Billions to National Drug Expenditure, Nature Biotechnology, May 2014 (with Kate S. Gaudry).
Low Examiner Allowance Rates, High Patent Term Adjustments, Law360, April 17, 2014 (with Kate S. Gaudry).