On My Side 2024 Awardee
The Champion of the Year Award recognizes an advocate who goes above and beyond to fight for justice for survivors of human trafficking. This year, the Human Trafficking Legal Center has selected Stan Perry as the Champion of the Year in recognition of his extraordinary pro bono work, as well as his tireless efforts to connect survivors to pro bono legal representation.
Stan has dedicated himself to pro bono representation for trafficking survivors, leading teams of attorneys at Reed Smith. He has focused his pro bono practice on defending trafficking survivors from retaliatory attacks by traffickers. In one instance, Stan brought together two pro bono teams to assist survivors facing such retaliation. In addition to his own excellent pro bono work, Stan devoted countless hours and resources to secure pro bono representation for trafficking survivors searching for counsel in rural Texas. Stan reached out to his colleagues, working weekends and evenings to find pro bono partners to handle emergency legal matters for two survivors of forced labor. These survivors had been subjected to aggressive and intimidating litigation tactics by their former employer. Stan immediately identified a possible pro bono partner and convinced the attorney to take the cases. Stan’s legal skills are matched only by his powers of persuasion.
Stan has provided wonderful leadership at Reed Smith, encouraging other attorneys to tackle complex, challenging pro bono human trafficking cases for survivors in need. His dedication to ensuring access to justice for survivors is remarkable. His pro bono leadership has had a lasting impact on so many people’s lives. We are thrilled to honor Stan Perry as this year’s Champion of the Year.
About the Honoree
Stan Perry’s practice focuses on toxic tort, product liability, and mass tort litigation. His experience includes leading teams of attorneys in multi-state and multi district litigation (MDL) to achieve client’s objectives, whether that is trying lawsuits or resolving litigation efficiently and effectively. Stan has extensive experience in applying the standards for the admissibility of expert testimony in state and federal courts, including motions to challenge experts under Daubert, Frye, and other standards.
He has served as local counsel, trial counsel, and national counsel in mass tort, product liability, and toxic tort lawsuits. He was one of the team leads for Reed Smith’s defense of a wholesale distributor in the opioid litigation. Stan’s role included oversight of 10 states, working with local counsel, and coordinating strategies and plans for cases in state and federal court. Stan is licensed in Texas and Illinois and has litigated cases in more than 20 states, including as trial counsel in Texas, Louisiana, and Arizona. He was one of the trial counsel for defendants in Raul Zendejas v. Shell Oil Co., Maricopa County Superior Court, CV-2007-005399. At this trial, Stan and co-counsel successfully defended a gasoline manufacturer in a lawsuit claiming plaintiff’s exposure to benzene in gasoline caused his leukemia.
He was trial counsel in Burst v. Shell Oil Company, a 2015 decision excluding plaintiff’s exposure assessment and general causation experts and granting summary judgment for defendants in a gasoline-acute myelogenous leukemia lawsuit in the United States District Court of Louisiana, Eastern Division (New Orleans). The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Burst on May 23, 2016.
Stan is global director of pro bono and community service and leads the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. He is also a member National Pro Bono Strategic Advisory Group for KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), a non-profit dedicated to providing legal counsel to immigrant children fleeing violence, abuse, and neglect.