Heather A. Pigman

Heather Pigman is a seasoned litigator known for her substantial expertise and compelling approach in complex civil litigation cases and for presenting, defending, and preparing expert witnesses in highly specialized fields. Her on-point analysis and smart strategic planning on long range cases have been instrumental in the favorable resolution of numerous high-value and high-profile matters. Balancing her laser focus against her easygoing style, Heather embraces the challenge of distilling complex scientific issues into information quickly grasped by judges, juries, and corporate stakeholders.

With over twenty-five years of experience, Heather develops litigation strategies in the defense of complex civil litigation including class actions, centralized and consolidated proceedings, and high-stakes litigation involving toxic tort, pharmaceutical, tobacco, medical device, RICO, personal injury, and consumer protection cases. She successfully leads litigation and appellate teams opposing class certification or other consolidated treatments of claims. This includes the defeat of a putative $19 billion medical marketing class in pharmaceutical litigation and a first of its kind “punitive damages class” seeking recovery for millions of members in a product liability setting. Heather has authored multiple publications addressing various class certification and serial or mass action litigation issues.

In addition to her defense of centralized and consolidated claims, Heather has substantial experience defending clients in other complex litigation, including developing litigation strategies for pre-trial proceedings through trial and appeal. Her experience includes the successful resolution of personal injury claims involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other consumer products at all stages of the process.

Heather has an innate ability to learn and understand expert witnesses’ scientific disciplines in order to better explain – and help the experts explain – complex scientific or legal concepts to audiences that do not share the experts’ backgrounds. Heather routinely works with cross-disciplinary teams to formulate and coordinate medical and scientific defenses for large scale litigation matters. She also focuses on developing graphics that will help both experts and the team’s lawyers provide simple visual representations of these complex issues.

Heather’s dedication to furthering women in the legal field led her to coauthor the article, “How young women lawyers can build their skills to make them essential to the success of their colleagues and clients,” for the ABA, Section of Litigation The Woman Advocate. She is a past member of the Florida Bar’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

In 2022, Heather was elected a member of the University of Central Florida Foundation’s Board of Directors. The UCF Foundation is a nonprofit organization that focuses on philanthropic efforts to support UCF and its students.