Personal Background
Rachel Lanier is the Managing Attorney of the Los Angeles Office and a member of the Lanier Law Firm Trial Team. She practices in the areas of personal injury, toxic torts, pharmaceutical litigation, mass torts, and product liability.
Rachel brings unique qualities to the trial team that set her apart. Holding a degree in psychology, Rachel is extremely passionate about jury psychology, and she draws on that background to better understand how jurors process information, form opinions, and ultimately reach a verdict. Rachel’s ability to blend psychological insight with legal strategy has become an invaluable asset to the team’s trial preparation and presentation.
Rachel also would describe herself as a visual and creative person and brings those qualities into the courtroom through her love of presenting cases with compelling demonstratives. She particularly enjoys the challenge of taking complex, difficult topics and finding a way to simplify them visually. For Rachel, a well-crafted visual isn’t just informative, it’s memorable, helping jurors retain and connect with the evidence long after they’ve heard it.
When she is not passionately advocating for her clients, Rachel enjoys spending time with her family, being outdoors, and exploring the Los Angeles restaurant and live music scene.
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Rachel Lanier and I’m managing attorney of the Los Angeles office for The Lanier Law Firm. One of my specialties as a member of The Lanier Law Firm trial team is getting a case ready for trial.
Even though a case can settle at many moments along the way from start to finish with a case, The Lanier Law Firm works up every single case as if it’s going all the way to the end to a jury, because that’s the way that you can best work up a case. So, one of my specialties is finding creative ways to appeal to jurors.
I studied psychology in undergrad and ever since then have had a fascination with it. I went to Pepperdine for undergrad and then went to St. John’s University for law school. I’ve been at the firm for almost 10 years and I thoroughly enjoy trying to make cases easy to communicate to a jury. So that’s certainly one of my specialties.
Representative Cases
$6 Million Verdict Against Meta and YouTube
Rachel co-led the trial workup in KGM v. Meta in the Los Angeles JCCP, where The Lanier Law Firm represented KGM, a plaintiff who suffered from social media addiction as a result of Meta and other platforms’ lack of regulation and monitoring. The jury awarded $3 million in compensatory damages and $3 million in punitive damages against YouTube and Meta. Rachel feels particularly proud of this social media addiction lawsuit due to the magnitude of the verdict and the precedent it sets for holding social media platforms accountable, as well as the fact that lawmakers are now looking into the broader issue of social media addiction, opening the door for substantial change.
$4.6 Billion Verdict Against Johnson & Johnson
Co-led the trial work-up in Ingham v. Johnson & Johnson et al in Missouri State Court, where the Lanier Law Firm represented 22 women who suffered from and/or died from ovarian cancer caused by talcum powder exposure and played a significant role in obtaining the unanimous $4.6 billion verdict on behalf of the plaintiffs. Rachel was also extensively involved in the appellate work that led to the Supreme Court of the United States rejecting J&J’s appeal, effectively ending the case and leaving in place a Missouri appeals-court ruling against the company.
National Prescription Opiates Litigation Tried to Verdict
On the trial team for the first bellwether trial in the National Prescription Opiates Litigation MDL 2804 that won a verdict against retail pharmacies operated by Walmart, CVS and Walgreens finding that they failed to follow guidelines that would have curtailed the distribution of highly addictive opioid painkillers.
DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implant Litigation: More Than $1 Billion Verdict
Part of the trial team for two trials in the DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implant MDL 2244 in the Northern District of Texas, which resulted in verdicts of more than $1 billion.
Epipen Litigation
Did considerable work on the Epipen Litigation MD 2785 before Judge Daniel Crabtree, a case that was ultimately resolved out of court.
Community and Professional Activities
- Rachel Lanier is currently part of the Lanier Law Firm’s social media addiction lawsuit legal team and serves as co-lead counsel in the JCCP coordinated proceeding
- Testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law during a hearing titled “From the Courtroom to Congress: Why Landmark Social Media Verdicts Demand Federal Action to Protect Kids Online.”
- Member of the Plaintiff Steering Committee and Chair of the Early Vetting Subcommittee in the 3M Combat Arms Earplugs MDL 2885
- Frequent Speaker at various Continuing Legal Education seminars and webinars, including Mass Torts Puerto Rico, NTL Ethicspalooza, Annual Complex Litigation Symposium, Harris Martin Seminars, National Trial Lawyers, State Trial Lawyer Associations, and others
- Featured on the Great Trials Podcast and on the Case Analysis Program to discuss how she and other members of The Lanier Law Firm trial team secured the largest verdict in the U.S. in 2018
- Featured on the Christianity Today podcast with Mark Lanier and Sarah Lanier, exploring the intersection of faith, law, and technology through the lens of their landmark social media addiction trial.
- Served on the 2019 Executive Committee for The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
- Served as a legal advocate for domestic abuse victims at the New York Legal Assistance Group
- Accredited Attorney for veterans’ benefits, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
- Appointed to the Plaintiff Steering Committee for the Social Media JCCP Litigation
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, American Association for Justice
- Member, New York Bar Association
- Member, New Jersey Bar Association
- Member, California Lawyers Association
- Executive Committee, LA County Bar Association
- Plaintiff Steering Committee for JCCP 5255: Social Media Cases
- Plaintiff Steering Committee for MDL 3076: In re: FTX Cryptocurrency Exchange Collapse Litigation
