Speaker

Bullock Ward Mason

Speaker Bio

Danielle Ward Mason is a personal injury attorney specializing in claims involving dangerous drugs and medical devices. Ms. Mason graduated from Auburn Montgomery with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1999, followed by a master of business administration in 2001.

Ms. Mason is one of the country's most successful talcum powder litigation attorneys. She has secured nearly $1 billion in verdicts against Johnson & Johnson for failing to warn about ovarian cancer risks.

Ms. Mason's civil litigation experience has focused primarily on claims that impact and highlight important issues in women's health””a cause that she is proud to advance. Prior to moving full-time to talc litigation, she litigated claims related to transvaginal mesh (TVM) manufactured by Bard, Boston Scientific, Caldera, Cook Medical, and Johnson & Johnson. She also handled Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) litigation, including drugs such as Premarin, Prempro and Provera that have been associated with the development of breast cancer.

In the fall of 2014 and spring of 2015, Ms. Mason joined the faculty at Faulkner University's Jones School of Law, where she taught Pre-trial Practice to 2nd and 3rd year law students. Before graduating from law school in 2007, she interned at the Federal Defender Office for the Middle District of Alabama. Upon passing the bar in 2008, she was immediately hired as an assistant federal defender. Danielle left the Federal Defenders Office in June 2009, when she joined the Beasley Allen Firm as an associate. She went on to become the first African-American woman to be named Principal at the firm.

In January 2020, Ms. Mason was appointed to the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC) in federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) over Janssen Pharmaceuticals' drug Elmiron. Previously, in 2017, Ms. Mason was appointed to the PSC of the Invokana MDL.

Over the course of her legal and professional career, Ms. Mason has been recognized and honored by numerous organizations. She has been named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers, selected as a Super Lawyers “œRising Star” every year since 2014, chosen as one of the “œ10 Best” Attorneys for Alabama by the American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys, and included in the 2020 Best Lawyers in America list. Danielle received the Harry M. Philo Award in 2020 for her work on talcum powder litigation, becoming the first black lawyer, and only the third woman, to receive the Award since it started in 1992.