John M. Lyons

John represents plaintiffs and defendants across an array of practice areas, including products liability, antitrust, class actions, commercial litigation, regulatory actions, and intellectual property. John has a nationwide band one ranking by Chambers USA and has been named to Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Litigators in America. Independent commentators have called him “a brilliant advocate who is adept at navigating complex issues,” “one of the most impressive trial attorneys,” and “one of the most client-centric lawyers” who “knows how to truly partner with his clients.”

In addition to handling cases from inception, John is frequently asked to serve as legal issues and appellate preservation counsel at trial, and he has been a member of over 30 trial teams. He has significant experience briefing and arguing constitutional questions, punitive damages issues, jury instructions, and other complex legal issues of first impression. In every case, he focuses on developing strategies to achieve success at the trial court level and to ensure those victories can be upheld on appeal.

In addition to his domestic litigation practice, John frequently partners with firms outside the United States to represent clients in complex litigation internationally. He has successfully led major matters in Latin America, the Middle East, and Australia.

John also devotes a portion of his time to the pro bono represention of individuals and nonprofit organizations. He most recently worked with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project in a successful bid to have a judge vacate the convictions of three men wrongfully convicted of murder that has received national media attention. John previously collaborated with New York City’s Legal Aid Society on class action litigation that resulted in increased rent subsidies for families with children on public assistance who were facing eviction.

John's representations have included:

• Representing a leading consumer product manufacturer in a product liability suit brought by a former professional sports coach that received significant media attention; he was responsible for removing the case to federal court, coordinating all fact and expert discovery, and leading all dispositive and expert motion practice; John argued several of the Daubert and dispositive motions, which resulted in summary judgment for his client that was not appealed

• Developing legal strategy, drafting briefs, and arguing novel constitutional questions in a state trial court that resulted in a reversal of a $157 million compensatory and punitive damages award on appeal

• Successfully leading the defense of consumer class actions in multiple jurisdictions in which the plaintiffs sought significant damages and injunctive relief based on claims relating to product advertising and marketing, all of which were dismissed or decided in favor of the defendant and not appealed

• Leading the representation of a major international consumer product manufacturer in an antitrust class action

• Serving as legal issues and appellate preservation counsel for multiple major U.S. consumer product manufacturers in over two dozen multi-week jury trials in various states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Hawaii
• Coordinating the defense of numerous individual product liability suits pending across multiple jurisdictions in the United States
• Representing an innovative technology company in multiple cases alleging patent infringement, including acting as legal issues and appellate preservation counsel in two jury trials

• Representing an international company in litigation challenging import restrictions on products in Latin America

• Coordinating the defense of dockets of individual products liability suits pending across multiple Latin American countries

Co-author, Mexico’s Judicial Reforms Call for a Proactive Response, Law.com International (March 2025)

Co-author, Missouri Innocent Seller Statute: Total Recovery Requirement, Missouri Lawyers Media (November 2022)

Co-author, Commentary: Revised Innocent Seller Statute Protects Resident Defendants, Missouri Lawyers Weekly (March 2021)

Co-author, Corporations: Are You Voluntarily Consenting to General Jurisdiction in Pennsylvania?, Westlaw Journal: Corporate Officers & Directors Liability (July 2017)

Co-author, Court Rejects 'Res Ipsa Loquitur Dressed Up as Expert Opinion,' The Legal Intelligencer (February 2017)

Co-author of bi-annual updates to Product Liability by Theodore V.H. Mayer, Robb Patryk and John S. Allee, Law Journal Seminars-Press (2011-2016)