Stephen E. Nichols

Stephen focuses his practice on products liability, where he handles matters at every stage of litigation, from pretrial counseling to appeal. He has represented product manufacturers in both federal and state court, ranging from single-plaintiff cases to complex multidistrict litigations.

Stephen has extensive experience in mass-tort litigation, having served as an integral part of case work-up and bellwether trial teams for the In re Taxotere (Docetaxel) Products Liability Litigation MDL (No. 2740). Stephen worked on the trial team that secured a defense verdict in the second Taxotere bellwether trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. He also successfully drafted two MDL-wide “fencepost” motions that limited the scope of viable claims based on federal preemption and labeling adequacy.

With a passion for brief writing and oral advocacy, Stephen has written and argued dispositive motions in federal and state courts across the country. Recently, he secured a dismissal with prejudice at the pleadings stage for a firm client in a computer duster class action filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Kansas.

He received his J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law, where he was the staff editor for the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy and earned membership in the Order of the Coif. Before joining Shook, Stephen clerked for the Honorable Daniel D. Crabtree, U.S. District Judge for the District of Kansas.