Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll Appoints Victoria S. Nugent as Co-Chair of Consumer Protection Practice
Appointment reaffirms law firm’s commitment to preventing consumer fraud and deceptive business practices by continuing its leadership role in class actions
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a leading national plaintiffs’ law firm, has appointed Victoria S. Nugent Co-Chair of the firm’s award-winning Consumer Protection Practice Group.
A consumer protection veteran, Ms. Nugent has been Co-Chair of the firm’s Public Client Practice Group since 2017, where she represented state Attorneys General and cities in their consumer fraud and deceptive business practices litigation against opioid manufacturers, big banks, and nursing homes.
Ms. Nugent, named among Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America” (2019, 2020) and Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers” (2020), and recognized as a National Law Journal “Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazer” in 2017, is a member of Cohen Milstein’s Executive Committee. She will lead the Consumer Protection practice with Co-Chair Theodore J. Leopold. Andrew N. Friedman, who is recognized among the top Consumer litigators in the Nation, is stepping down after serving two decades as one of the Group’s Co-Chairs. Mr. Friedman will continue to focus on leading data privacy cases.
With the appointment of Ms. Nugent, eight out of the ten practice groups at Cohen Milstein are now led or co-led by women.
“I am thrilled to help lead this incredible team of attorneys who have distinguished themselves nationally as some of the best and most innovative advocates for consumer rights across all sectors of the economy,” said Victoria Nugent, Co-Chair of the Consumer Protection Practice Group at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. “I have always had a deep passion for this work and consumer protection is as important as ever. The economy is only working when markets are working for everyone. Cohen Milstein will continue to pursue robust enforcement of the state and federal statutes that were designed to hold big corporations accountable for wrongdoing against consumers and small businesses.”
“Having collaborated and worked with Tory over the past few years, I know that she is a creative litigator and a collaborative leader – two qualities that are essential in this area of practice,” said Theodore Leopold, Co-Chair of the Consumer Protection practice group at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. “She has dedicated her career to consumer advocacy and equal justice under the law and will be an invaluable asset to the future of the practice group.”
“I have witnessed first-hand what an extraordinary litigator Tory is,” said Andrew Friedman, outgoing Co-Chair of the Consumer Protection practice group at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. “She is well-deserving of this honor to lead the Consumer Protection practice and will be, no-doubt, exceptional in this new role.”
Cohen Milstein’s Consumer Protection Practice Group is at the forefront of protecting consumers across the United States from corporate malfeasance, including personal data theft, false advertising, misleading labelling, defective products and warranty violations, fraudulent billing, and other types of unfair or deceptive business practices.
The firm has been appointed to lead several of the nation’s highest-profile consumer class action cases including such matters involving data breaches; product defect and warranty claims; and deceptive trade practices. The group’s current docket also includes two significant class actions against Facebook in California federal court, one including data breach claims and the other addressing deceptive consumer-targeting advertising algorithms; a complex, multi-state class action in Michigan federal court against General Motors, alleging breach of warranty and deceptive business practices related to the sale of defective automatic car transmissions; and dozens of breach of contract class actions in state and federal courts across the country on behalf of hundreds of restaurants, retailers and other small businesses against their insurers for failing to cover their COVID-19 business interruption claims.
Cohen Milstein’s Consumer Protection Practice Group has been recognized nationally for its success, including being named one of Law360’s 2020 “Class Action Practice Group of the Year.” In 2019, the practice won the same award for “Consumer Protection” and in 2017 for “Data Privacy.”
About Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is recognized as one of the premier law firms in the country handling major, complex plaintiff-side litigation. With more than 100 attorneys, Cohen Milstein has offices in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Philadelphia, Pa. and Raleigh, N.C. For additional information, visit https://www.cohenmilstein.com or call 202.408.4600.