Robert C. Tucker
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After 44 years of practice as a trial lawyer, including having served as Tucker Ellis Managing Partner from 2003 to 2008, Bob has retired from the practice of law at Tucker Ellis while continuing his relationship with the firm he helped found in 2003.
Bob, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, specialized in products liability and medical malpractice cases, with an emphasis on the defense of pharmaceutical companies, physicians and hospitals, and manufacturers of consumer products.
During his 44-year legal career, Bob defended thousands of cases brought against pharmaceutical companies and healthcare professionals in Ohio and a dozen other states. He served as trial counsel throughout the Midwest for manufacturers of various products, drugs, and devices, and he tried cases to verdict in Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, as well as in courts throughout Ohio. In addition to the cases he tried, he was the national coordinating counsel for the defense of product liability and toxic tort cases brought in state and federal courts throughout the United States. He managed thousands of cases in multidistrict litigation and served as MDL co-counsel in In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., ASR Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation and in In re: Ortho Evra Products Liability Litigation. He was admitted to try lawsuits in more than two dozen different state and federal courts.
Bob has lectured extensively on trial tactics and the defense of product liability claims and has participated in seminars for attorneys defending product liability, pharmaceutical liability, and toxic tort claims. As he stepped back from courtroom work, he mentored the next generation of Tucker Ellis trial lawyers in the firm’s Trial Academy.
Ranked among “Senior Statesmen” in Chambers USA 2018 in the area of Product Liability & Mass Torts (Nationwide), Bob is described as a “marvelous lawyer …. When he speaks, everyone listens.”
“Bob Tucker garners huge respect across the market.” — Legal 500, U.S.
- Education
- The Ohio State University College of Law (J.D., 1976)
- Williams College (B.A., cum laude, 1973); Phi Beta Kappa
- State Admissions
- Ohio, 1976
- Federal Admissions
- United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
- United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio
- United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio
- Service Areas
- Life Sciences Litigation
- Medical Malpractice Litigation
- Mass Tort & Product Liability
- Business Litigation
- Health & Life Sciences
- Industries Represented
- Healthcare
- Pharmaceutical & Medicine
Selected Speaking Engagements
- “Leadership Lessons Learned from the Collapse of Arter & Hadden and the Launch of Tucker Ellis,” Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Leadership Academy, Cleveland, Ohio (December 2019)
- “There’s No Place Like Home: The Pros and Cons of Lexecon Waivers and Bellwether Trials in the Modern MDL,” Current Issues in Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Biotech Litigation, ABA, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (November 2016)
- “A Defense Perspective on Mass Tort Litigation,” First Annual Winter Convention, Ohio Association for Justice, Cleveland, Ohio (November 2013)
- “Everything MDL: First-Hand Perspectives from MDL Panel Judges, MDL District Court Judges, and MDL Lawyers,” presented by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association, Cleveland, Ohio (July 2012)
Recent Publications
- “True Blue: Avoid ‘Fake News’ on Product Packaging,” Manufacturing Today (October 2018)
- Chambers USA
- “Senior Statesmen” in Product Liability & Mass Torts (Nationwide) (2016–2018)
- Product Liability & Mass Torts (Nationwide) (2010–2015)
- Who’s Who Legal
- Thought Leaders: USA – Product Liability Defence (2023)
- Product Liability Defence (2018–2021)
- Litigation (2018, 2019)
- Life Sciences: Product Liability (2010–2012, 2014–2016)
- Selected as one of the world’s “10 Most Highly Regarded Individuals“ (2012)
- Benchmark Litigation
- Litigation Star (Product Liability and Recall)
- Product Liability Defence (2003, 2006–2016)
- Top 100 Trial Lawyers (2015)
- Commercial Litigation (2014, 2015)
- LMG Life Sciences
- Life Sciences Star (Product Liability) (2013–2023)
- The Best Lawyers in America® (2003–2023)
- 2021 Cleveland Lawyer of the Year (Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants)
- 2020 Cleveland Lawyer of the Year (Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants)
- 2016 Cleveland Lawyer of the Year (Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants)
- 2014 Cleveland Lawyer of the Year (Bet-the-Company Litigation)
- 2011 Cleveland Lawyer of the Year (Medical Malpractice Law)
- Ohio Super Lawyers® (2004–2022)
- American College of Trial Lawyers, Fellow
- International Association of Defense Counsel, past member
- Defense Research Institute, past member
- Cleveland Association of Civil Trial Attorneys, past member
- Manos Inns of Court
