Tom Heiden retired from the partnership in January 2022. He is former Global Chair of the firm's Product Liability, Mass Torts & Consumer Class Actions Practice.
Tom was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
A trial lawyer who has tried cases in every region of the US, he advised on difficult and high-profile lawsuits, including toxic tort, high-stakes energy, utility, resource and business contract, and tort disputes.
Tom tried and won the high-profile US$4 billion Pro Football Lockout Fund trial. He defended and won the lead high school football concussion class action. He tried and won the CONSOL Energy US$765 million contract case. He won the Gulf Spill MDL vases for the chemical dispersant manufacturer.
Tom ’s energy and utility litigation covered a wide variety of cases, including trials involving nuclear power plants and the management and operation of electric generating plants. He served as lead trial counsel in the first steam generator replacement case; he tried a six-month jury trial over a pressure-suppression containment system; he tried the qui tam nuclear security case at the Rocky Flats Arsenal. He also has extensive upstream and downstream oil and gas trial experience.
Tom has tried cases arising from catastrophic industrial accidents (including the tragic Ford-Rouge powerhouse explosion), served as lead trial counsel in 5,000 personal injury toxic tort suits in Mississippi, and has successfully defended toxic tort cases in California, Illinois, Michigan, Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.
At the time of his retirement, Tom served as professor of Intensive Trial Advocacy at Cornell University Law School. He also taught Advanced Trial Advocacy at the Georgetown University Law Center. He was featured in The American Lawyer “On the Gridiron, the Ice, or in the Court, Latham Partner Thomas Heiden Plays to Win.” He has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America for his trial work and chaired the Practicing Law Institute Faculty on Corporate Responsibility for seven years. Tom has been a frequent guest on CNN’s “Big Trials of the Day” segment. He also coached a North American Championship hockey team.
Leadership
At the time of his retirement, his leadership positions included:
- Chicago Sports Commission, Board of Directors
- University of Notre Dame, College of Arts and Letters Board
- Equal Justice Works, Board of Counsellors
- Cornell University Law School, Faculty - Intensive Trial Advocacy
- Georgetown University Law Center, Faculty – Advanced Trial Advocacy
- American College of Trial Lawyers, Chair – Teaching Committee
- Cornell University Law School, Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, 2021-2022
- Latham, Chair of Trial Advocacy Programs, 2020-2021