Cynthia L. Garber is a nurse attorney and shareholder at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, where she focuses her practice on wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury pharmaceutical product liability litigation. Cynthia’s extensive medical knowledge, coupled with her trial experience and public speaking background, has proven invaluable to her in the practice of pharmaceutical mass tort litigation.
Before becoming an attorney, Cynthia was employed as a registered nurse for 12 years, specializing in cardiology, during which time she gained vast experience in the areas of critical and emergency care, and nursing education.
As part of her legal education, Cynthia did a Judicial Externship to the Honorable David G. Sills, Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, State of California, Division Three. She then began her legal career, receiving her initial litigation experience at Lopez, Hodes, Restaino, Milman & Skikos, where she practiced in the areas of Medical Malpractice, Elder Abuse and Pharmaceutical Mass Torts. Cynthia then went on to become a senior litigation attorney at Robinson Calcagnie Robinson, where she handled all aspects of pharmaceutical and medical device mass torts litigation from case intake to resolution.
Cynthia has participated in every aspect of trial preparation and has participated as “first chair” in a handful of medical malpractice trials. Most notably, she was a member of the trial team for a Vioxx case against pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. that resulted in a $51 million verdict. For the Vioxx cases, Cynthia worked closely with cardiology experts and took numerous medical depositions. In addition to the $51 million verdict, Cynthia has been involved in personal injury trials and settlements totaling over $22 million. One of those settlements is known as the highest settlement amount in history for an orthopedic injury.
Due to her extensive medical background, Cynthia has been appointed to numerous plaintiff steering committees in mass tort litigation that manage complex multi-district litigation arising from pharmaceutical drug defects. She has been appointed to MDL and state coordinated proceedings and on national science sub-committees, at times serving as the scientific chair. Her scientific expertise has also allowed Cynthia to take national depositions of large pharmaceutical corporations, including Bayer, on behalf of California plaintiffs during state and federal mass tort litigations.
She has also been invited to speak on many occasions for various groups including lawyer associations, mass tort science committees and conferences where she has given lectures on the science and risk factors involved with many pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices.
Cynthia has always been very involved in her community. Currently, she is an attorney mentor for the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Orange County, a non-profit educational organization focused on involving and empowering youth to become active and responsible citizens. She also supports the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.
Cynthia began her nursing career at a cardiac rehabilitation center. It was during this time that she gained a vast knowledge of the risk factors associated with heart disease and fatal cardiac events, which has proven invaluable in her litigation against pharmaceutical companies. This experience sparked an interest in cardiology that later turned into a passion.
She then spent years as an emergency room nurse at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, an acute care, not-for-profit hospital located in Newport Beach, California. Her expertise was put to good use in the ER, as she was often the first to diagnose heart abnormalities in patients. Cynthia was soon asked to lecture on the subject of cardiology to an audience of her peers. As a nurse educator, Cynthia taught courses on various disciplines. It was during this time that she developed a comfort and eventually a passion for teaching and speaking. She has since lectured extensively on many topics related to the management of critical care patients.
As a member of Baum Hedlund's pharmaceutical product liability litigation team, Cynthia is providing a unique perspective and in depth understanding of our client's medical conditions and injuries, as well as a deep understanding of complicated scientific issues, biomedical research, clinical trials and statistics, ensuring effective discovery procedures and pharmaceutical litigation strategies.