Roger Podesta is a retired partner and the leader of the firm’s Products Liability Group. His practice focuses exclusively on litigation, principally products liability and securities. Mr. Podesta has represented a variety of Fortune 500 companies in a wide breadth of industries, including a major defendant in the asbestos controversy and a well-known tampon manufacturer in the toxic shock litigation. Since 1987, he has also served as national counsel in connection with the defense of over 200,000 asbestos personal injury lawsuits. Mr. Podesta was recognized as a products liability “Star” in the IFLR Benchmark Litigation Guide (2009). Mr. Podesta was also recommended in Global Counsel-Dispute Resolution Handbook (2004-2005) and PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook (2006) in the fields of products liability and dispute resolution.
Mr. Podesta is admitted to practice in New York; the US Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits and the US District Courts for Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Mr. Podesta joined Debevoise in 1974 and was named a partner in 1981. From 1973 to 1974, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Wilfred Feinberg, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Mr. Podesta holds a B.A. from Columbia University (1969) and a J.D. from Harvard Law School magna cum laude (1973), where he was case and comments editor of The Harvard Law Review.