The global law firm Jones Day has announced that Bridget K. O’Connor has joined the Firm as a partner in its Business & Tort Litigation Practice. She will be based in the Washington Office. O’Connor comes to the firm from Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Ms. O’Connor has been on the front lines of a number of high-profile, complex disputes in state and federal courts, as well as arbitrations and other forums, across the United States. She has played pivotal roles in developing litigation strategies and presenting cases at trial for a broad range of commercial disputes, including breach of contract, business torts, product liability, banking, finance, transportation, and restructuring matters.
At Jones Day, Ms. O’Connor joins a global team of experienced trial lawyers that serve clients in business and government disputes, torts, and civil litigation, from counseling through trial and appeal. She will provide the Firm’s clients with litigation counsel related to class actions; product liability claims; business restructuring; and transportation, energy, and infrastructure disputes.
“Bridget has a distinctive approach to trial preparation and immerses herself in the scientific, technical, or economic intricacies impacting a dispute,” said Stephanie Parker, who co-leads Jones Day’s Business & Tort Litigation Practice. “Her deep experience with a diverse range of high-stakes commercial litigation will be a tremendous asset to our clients. We are delighted that she has chosen to join Jones Day and welcome her to our practice.”
Some of Ms. O’Connor’s highly publicized litigation results comprise court wins in a series of arbitrations for BNSF Railway Company, including most recently obtaining a $200 million recovery and favorable going-forward rulings following a multi-week arbitration addressing the parties’ long-term intermodal transportation arrangement (BNSF v. J.B. Hunt). She has also played central roles in a number of noteworthy, complex products liability and mass-tort actions, including trial roles representing: BP in the trials In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” (MDL 2179), as well as in related investigations; Syngenta in multi-forum litigation involving hundreds of class action and individual lawsuits alleging damages due to the commercialization of a genetically modified corn trait (MDL 2591); and GM in the In re General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation (MDL 2543), including the dismissal with prejudice mid-trial of the first bellwether trial in those cases.
“Bridget has earned a reputation as a litigator whom clients and colleagues can trust to master every detail of a case in a way that will ultimately make complex issues simple for judges and juries,” said Noel J. Francisco, Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s Washington Office and the Former Solicitor General of the United States from 2017-2020. “I am pleased to welcome her to our office here in Washington and look forward to working alongside her in serving Jones Day clients with their commercial litigation challenges.”
Ms. O’Connor clerked for the Honorable D. Brooks Smith, on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She earned her law degree from Duke University School of Law, a masters of public policy degree from Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, and her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame.
