Nancy M. Erfle

GRSM Partner Nancy M. Erfle is a member of the Tort & Product Liability Litigation and Drug & Medical Device practice groups and currently serves on the firm’s Executive Committee. Her practice is focused on litigation, specifically the defense of manufacturers in the area of automotive, heavy equipment, toxic tort and medical exposures. Nancy has served on national litigation teams and as lead local and regional counsel for manufacturing, pharmaceutical and medical device clients on many cases, including several mass tort cases. Most recently she served as National Trial and Coordination Counsel for a supplier of raw materials in litigation pending in multiple state and federal courts throughout the country. Nancy also has class action experience in both consumer fraud and securities matters. She has extensive state and federal court jury trial experience, defending her clients in all types of product liability claims throughout the country.

Nancy was the IADC Trial Academy Director for the 2019 Trial Academy for the International Association of Defense Counsel, which was held at Stanford University Law School. She served as Director-Elect for 2018 and was a member of the teaching faculty in 2007. She also serves as an adjunct professor for Lewis & Clark Law School’s Aviation Seminar.

Nancy was selected as a Law360 2017 Product Liability MVP, one of only five attorneys in the nation to receive that recognition. She is recognized among the leading practitioners in the county by Chambers USA for her defense of pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, automotive manufacturers, agricultural chemical manufacturers, aviation manufacturers, as well as companies involved in commercial disputes. In 2004, Nancy was selected as a recipient of The Portland Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” Award, an honor which recognizes the 40 most accomplished, influential, and civic-minded young executives in Portland. Since 2006, Nancy has been named an Oregon “Super Lawyer” by Law & Politics magazine, a peer-elected distinction bestowed upon only the top five percent of all attorneys in the state of Oregon. In 2007, she was named one of the “100 Most Powerful Women” by Northwest Women’s Journal. Nancy has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 2010 for her work in Product Liability Litigation and named an Oregon Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation.  Since 2012 she has been consistently named in the Top 250 Women in American Litigation by Benchmark Litigation.  

Admissions

• Oregon
• Washington
• Montana
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, District of Oregon
• U.S. District Court, Western and Eastern Districts of Washington
• U.S. District Court, District of Montana

Memberships

• International Association of Defense Attorneys (IADC), Board of Directors
• Product Liability Advisory Council (PLAC), sustaining member
• Defense Research Institute
• American Bar Association, Litigation Section
• Oregon Association of Defense Counsel

Community Involvement

• East/West Sylvan Middle School, Site Counsel

Representative Trials

• Fox, Missouri (St. Louis), 2016
• Ristesund, Missouri (St. Louis), 2016
• Gianecchini, Missouri (St. Louis), 2016
• Daniels, Missouri (St. Louis), 2016
• Echevveria, California (Los Angeles), 2017
• Lewis, Washington (Pierce County), 2019

Representative Experience

• Served as National Trial and Coordination Counsel for a raw materials supplier from 2014-2019. In 2016 she tried the first three of those matters to verdict with favorable result for the client.   
• Served on numerous trial teams throughout the Northwest for a respiratory manufacturing client.
• Tried two antitrust matters to successful verdicts for her clients.
• Served as a member of a national team on behalf of a global pharmaceutical company in mass tort cases – one involving a combined oral contraceptive and the other involving an anti-cholesterol drug.
• Defended a transport helicopter company involved in a crash which resulted in multiple wrongful death and injury claims. The multiple matters resolved in a successful settlement for the client.
• Serves as regional product liability counsel for a major automotive manufacturer.
• Defended an automotive manufacturer who designed and manufactured a 15-passenger van involved in a rollover accident which resulted in multiple death and injury claims. These matters were successfully settled for the client.
• Obtained a complete dismissal from dozens of lawsuits for a global pharmaceutical company involved in the pain-pump litigation.
• Successfully defended a pharmaceutical client in a securities fraud matter.

Presentations

• Defending Mass Torts and Products Liability Lawsuits, GRSM Legal Education Conference, New York and Hartford, May 2023
• Defending Mass Torts and Products Liability Lawsuits, GRSM Legal Education Conference, New York and Hartford, May 2019

Education

J.D., cum laude, Willamette University College of Law, 1990

B.S., summa cum laude, Rocky Mountain College, 1987

Honors

Who’s Who Legal Thought Leader: USA, Life Sciences - Product Liability and Product Liability Defense, 2023

Chambers USA, Product Liability and Mass Torts (Nationwide)

BTI Client Service All-Star for 2018

Law360 Product Liability MVP, 2017

Super Lawyers® distinction in the fields of Personal Injury Defense: Products, Antitrust Litigation, and Business Litigation, (2006-2007, 2011-2021, 2023)

100 Most Powerful Women, Northwest Women's Journal, 2007

Forty Under 40 Award, The Portland Business Journal, 2004

Best Lawyers in America® "Lawyer of the Year," Product Liability Litigation - Defendants, Portland, OR (2022)

Best Lawyers in America® distinction in Product Liability Litigation - Defendants (2011-2024)

Litigation Star in Commercial Litigation, Product Liability and Recall, and Transport, Oregon & Nationwide, Benchmark Litigation, (2010-2023)

Top 250 Women in American Litigation, Benchmark Litigation, (2012 - 2021)

Top Rated Lawyer-AV® Preeminent™, Martindale-Hubbell