Former Delaware Superior Court Judge, Peggy L. Ableman, Joins McCarter & English as Special Counsel

WILMINGTON, Del. --(Business Wire)--

Law firm McCarter & English, LLP is pleased to announce that former Delaware Superior Court Judge, Peggy L. Ableman, has joined the firm's Wilmington, Delaware office as Special Counsel in the Product Liability practice group, bringing with her nearly 30 years of experience as a state trial judge. At McCarter she will focus on using her years of judicial experience to provide litigation consulting and alternate dispute resolution services to clients.

"Peggy is a dear friend of mine who has had a long career as a leader on the bench and in the courtroom," said Firm Chairman Michael P. Kelly. "She has played a significant role in shaping Delaware law for the past three decades and is nationally known and admired in the toxic tort arena. With that track record we firmly believe that her commitment to the law, years of experience and level of expertise will be invaluable to our clients. We welcome her into the product liability practice at McCarter, where I look forward to working alongside her."

"I have always had a deep respect for Mike and McCarter," said Judge Ableman. "I am eager to practice law again,particularly in the area of product liability, which continues to have a broad and complex array of issues and industries to litigate."

Judge Ableman first started as a judge in Delaware Family Court, where she served for 17 years. At the time, she was only the second woman to serve as a member of that state's judiciary. During her tenure on the Superior Court, Judge Ableman presided over the asbestos litigation docket for nearly two years, a docket comprised of more than 500 cases involving litigants from all over the world. She issued many detailed written opinions, in an area of the law where written decisions on commonly-recurring summary judgment issues had previously been the exception rather than the rule.

She was also frequently invited to speak at national asbestos litigation conferences. In addition, Judge Ableman has authored hundreds, if not thousands, of judicial opinions addressing civil, criminal, and appellate matters.

Before taking the bench, Judge Ableman served as the first female Assistant United States Attorney for the District for Delaware from 1979 to 1983. In 1995, she was the first recipient of the Chief Justice's Award for Outstanding Judicial Service.

Currently, Judge Ableman is an adjunct professor at the Villanova School of Law. She is a member of the National Association of Women Judges, the American Bar Association, the Delaware Bar Association, and the Bench-Bar-Media Committee of the Supreme Court for which she served as its chair in 2010 and 2011.

Judge Ableman is a past president of the Richard S. Rodney Inn of Court and continues to serve on the Inn's Executive Committee. She is also a past member of the Governor's Child Protection Accountability Commission, where she chaired and authored reports for two child death review investigations, one of which resulted in sweeping improvements to the child welfare system in Delaware.

Admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1975, Judge Ableman earned her B.A. with distinction from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and her J.D. from the Emory University School of Law, where she was Notes and Comments Editor of the Emory Law Journal.

About the Product Liability Practice

As the firm's single largest practice area, the Product Liability group at McCarter & English represents clients in three key areas: Life Sciences and Pharmaceuticals; Mass and Toxic Torts; and Consumer and Industrial Product Quality. Nationally recognized and international in scope, the practice ranges from single plaintiff cases, statewide or regional representation of larger clients through all phases of discovery, trial and appeal, to serving as national coordinating counsel for several Fortune 500 companies.

About McCarter & English LLP

McCarter & English, established more than 160 years ago, represents Fortune 500 and middle-market companies in their national, regional and local litigation and on important transactions. Its 400 attorneys are based in offices in Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Stamford and Wilmington. www.mccarter.com