Profile
Sean Jessee is a high-stakes product liability litigator who represents multinational pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer product manufacturers. Sean defends clients in a variety of complex matters in state and federal courts, including multidistrict litigation and coordinated state proceedings across the country. Clients appreciate Sean’s “hands-on” approach to managing litigation, and he is known for counseling corporate executives and preparing them for deposition or trial testimony.
Listed on Law360’s “Rising Star” roster of top product liability attorneys under 40 (2017-2018), Sean is a shareholder in the firm’s Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Health Care Litigation industry team. Sean’s complex litigation experience also extends to defending clients in the areas of medical malpractice, employment discrimination and harassment, and environmental litigation.
Sean began his legal career as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and then for Chief Justice Carol Hunstein of the Georgia Supreme Court. He developed a special affinity for health care issues early in his career while working with the Health Law Partnership (HeLP), a collaboration among the Atlanta Legal Aid, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Georgia State University College of Law to improve the health of low-income children and their families.
Concentrations
- Pharmaceutical, medical device, and health care litigation
- Class and mass action litigation
- Products liability
- Food and drug law
- Multidistrict litigation
- Medical malpractice defense
Capabilities
Experience
- Trial team member for multinational developer, manufacturer, and marketer of medical devices in Multidistrict Litigation bellwether cases involving vaginal mesh products.
- Defended pharmaceutical companies in federal and state court against claims of strict liability, negligence and fraud.
- Defended medical device manufacturers in federal court and state court against claims of strict liability, negligence and fraud.
- Defended hospitals against claims of medical malpractice.
- Defended pharmacy against claims of malpractice.
- Research Assistant, Professor Anzi Satz, Emory University School of Law
- Fellow, Intern and Extern, Health Law Partnership
- Legal Extern, Chief Justice Carol Hunstein, Georgia Supreme Court
Recognition & Leadership
- Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, Products Liability Litigation - Defendants, 2021-2025
- Listed, The Legal 500 United States, Dispute Resolution > Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action - Defense: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, 2022-2024
- Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, Georgia Super Lawyers, "Rising Stars," 2019-2021, 2023-2024
- Listed, Benchmark Litigation, “40 & Under Hot List,” 2022-2024
- Team Member, a Law360 “Product Liability Practice Group of the Year,” 2021-2022
- Team Member, The American Lawyer’s “Regional Litigation Department of the Year - Georgia,” 2018 and 2021
- Team Member, The American Lawyer’s “Products Liability Litigation Department of the Year,” 2018
- Listed, Law360 "Rising Star," Products Liability Top Attorneys Under 40, 2017
- Team Member, The Daily Report’s "Georgia Products Liability & Mass Torts Litigation Department of the Year," 2013 and 2015-2017
- Team Member, Courtroom View Network’s "Top Defense Verdict of 2016"
- Team Member, Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly, “Top Defense Wins in 2016”
- Recipient, "Award for Excellence in the Study of Health Law," American Bar Association, Health Law Section, 2009
- Recipient, "Annual Health Law Student Award," American Society of Law Medicine and Ethics, 2008
- Member, Defense Research Institute (DRI), Young Lawyer’s Division
- Member, International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC)
- Member, Atlanta Legal Aid Society Advisory Committee
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, State Bar of Georgia
- Participant, Team in Training to benefit Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
- Volunteer, Habitat for Humanity
Credentials
-
J.D., with honors, Emory University School of Law
- Order of the Coif
- Notes and Comments Editor, Emory Law Journal
- Dean's List
- Recipient, Dean's Award in Legal Writing and Research Advocacy Program; Food and Drug Law; Regulation of Health Care Providers; Constitutional Criminal Law; and Health Law
- Member, Health Law Society
-
B.A., History, Rhodes College
- Phi Alpha Theta (National Honor Society)
- Kappa Alpha Order
- Member, Interfraternity Council
- Participant, British Studies Program at Oxford
- Georgia
- Court of Appeals of Georgia
- Supreme Court of Georgia
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit