Hughes Hubbard announced today that Rafael Cruz-Alvarez has joined its Litigation Department as a partner in the firm’s Miami office. Cruz-Alvarez was most recently a partner at Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP in its Miami office.
Cruz-Alvarez is an experienced product liability defense lawyer. He has defended cases involving a wide range of products involving pharmaceuticals, fungicides, and other products, including the Engle progeny smoking and health cases filed throughout the state of Florida. Cruz-Alvarez has served as lead counsel for Lorillard Tobacco Company and Philip Morris USA in scores of such smoking and health cases. Cruz-Alvarez has also served as counsel for numerous drug manufacturers in significant pharmaceutical liability claims. His representative cases in the pharmaceutical sector include Redux / Pondimin (Fen-Phen) diet drug claims and Accutane claims filed throughout the state of Florida, including those in the Accutane MDL in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
“Rafael is a versatile litigator who has handled hundreds of product liability cases for leading manufacturers, and will be of enormous value to our product liability and general litigation clients,” said William R. Maguire, Chair of Hughes Hubbard’s Litigation Department.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Rafael to Hughes Hubbard’s Miami office,” added Nicolas Swerdloff, Office Managing Partner of Hughes Hubbard’s Miami office. “Personally, I look forward to working with him closely on the Hughes Hubbard team serving Lorillard Tobacco Company as national coordinating counsel, including the thousands of cases here in Florida. He will also add additional depth to our already strong international litigation practice in Miami.”
“I am delighted to join one of the most respected litigation teams in the world,” Cruz-Alvarez said. “From sophisticated, high-stakes product liability litigations to leading-edge toxic tort matters, Hughes Hubbard is renowned for its prowess in court. I look forward to putting the firm’s resources to work for my clients.”
