David F. Sorensen

Practice Areas

David F. Sorensen is an Executive Shareholder and Co-Chair of the Firm’s antitrust department. He graduated from Duke University (A.B. 1983) and Yale Law School (J.D. 1989), and clerked for the Hon. Norma L. Shapiro (E.D. Pa.). He concentrates his practice on antitrust and complex litigation.

Mr. Sorensen co-tried Cook v. Rockwell Int’l Corp., No. 90-181 (D. Colo.) and received, along with the entire trial team, the “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award in 2009 from the Public Justice Foundation for their work on the case, which resulted in a jury verdict of $554 million in February 2006, after a four-month trial, on behalf of thousands of property owners near the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant located outside Denver, Colorado. The jury verdict was then the largest in Colorado history and was the first time a jury had awarded damages to property owners living near one of the nation’s nuclear weapons sites. In 2008, after extensive post-trial motions, the District Court entered a $926 million judgment for the plaintiffs. The jury verdict in the case was vacated on appeal in 2010. In 2015, on a second trip to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Plaintiffs secured a victory with the case being sent back to the district court. In 2016, the parties reached a $375 million settlement, which received final approval in 2017.

Mr. Sorensen played a major role in the Firm’s representation of the State of Connecticut in State of Connecticut v. Philip Morris, Inc., et al., in which Connecticut recovered approximately $3.6 billion (excluding interest) from certain manufacturers of tobacco products. And he served as co-lead class counsel in Johnson v. AzHHA, et al., No. 07-1292 (D. Ariz.), representing a class of temporary nursing personnel who had been underpaid because of an alleged conspiracy among Arizona hospitals. The case settled for $24 million.

Mr. Sorensen also has served as co-lead counsel or played a leading role in numerous antitrust cases representing direct purchasers of prescription drugs. Many of these cases have alleged that pharmaceutical manufacturers have wrongfully kept less expensive generic drugs off the market, in violation of the antitrust laws. Many of these cases have resulted in substantial cash settlements, including In re: Namenda Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation, (S.D.N.Y.) ($750 million settlement – largest single-defendant settlement ever for a case alleging delayed generic competition); King Drug Co. v. Cephalon, Inc., (E.D. Pa.) ($512 million partial settlement); In re Suboxone (Buprenorphine Hydrochloride and Naloxone) Antitrust Litig., (E.D. Pa.) ($385 million); In re Opana ER Antitrust Litig., (N.D. Ill.) ($145 million at start of trial); In re: Aggrenox Antitrust Litigation (D. Ct.) ($146 million); In re Loestrin 24 Fe Antitrust Litigation (D.R.I.)($120 million); In re Solodyn Antitrust Litigation, (D. Mass.) ($76.8 million); In re: K-Dur Antitrust Litigation (D.N.J.)($60.2 million); In re: Skelaxin Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Tenn.) ($73 million); In re: Wellbutrin XL Antitrust Litigation (E.D. Pa.)($37.5 million); In re: DDAVP Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litigation (S.D.N.Y.)($20.25 million settlement following precedent-setting victory in the Second Circuit, which Mr. Sorensen argued, see 585 F.3d 677 (2d Cir. 2009)); In re: Nifedipine Antitrust Litigation (D.C.D.C.)($35 million); and In re: Terazosin Hydrochloride Antitrust Litigation, MDL 1317 (S.D. Fla.) ($74.5 million).

Mr. Sorensen is serving as co-lead counsel or on the executive committee of numerous similar, pending cases.

In 2017, the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) presented its Antitrust Enforcement Award to Mr. Sorensen and others for their work on the K-Dur case. In 2019, Mr. Sorensen and others were recognized again by the AAI for their work on the King Drug case, being awarded the Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice. Mr. Sorensen and his team received the same award in 2020 for their work on the Namenda case. Also in 2020, Law360 named Mr. Sorensen a Competition MVP of the Year. Mr. Sorensen has presented at a number of symposia relating to antitrust issues in the pharmaceutical industry, including conferences in 2015 and 2014 in Philadelphia sponsored by HarrisMartin concerning “Pay for Delay” agreements.