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Suber, Sean

Sean Suber

Partner

seansuber@quinnemanuel.com
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Direct Tel: +1 312 705 7411
Chicago
Tel: +1 312 705 7400 Fax: +1 312 705 7401

Sean Suber is a nationally recognized trial and appellate lawyer who litigates high-stakes complex litigation, class actions, product liability, and mass tort matters. For over a decade, he has represented clients in a wide range of industries and guided them through all phases of litigation. As a result, he has been recognized as one of the country’s top up-and-coming lawyers, with clients describing him to Chambers USA as a being a “phenomenal,” “very persuasive” “first-rate lawyer,” who “is incredibly aggressive, creative and knowledgeable.”

Sean has represented dozens of companies and individuals in high-profile cases, trials, appeals, and arbitrations. He is adept at crafting winning litigation strategies to obtain early dismissals or navigate cases through mediations, discovery, dispositive motions, trials, and appeals. He is experienced in all phases of litigation, including case assessment and strategy; briefing and arguing motions in state and federal courts; managing all aspects of discovery in both complex and multidistrict litigation; taking and defending depositions; negotiating mediations and settlements; handling all aspects of trial preparation, trial, and arbitration; and briefing and arguing appeals in state and federal courts. Sean also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing indigent defendants in criminal matters and partnering with non-profits in litigation and appellate matters to dismantle systemic inequities in the criminal justice system.

Sean is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was a member of the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Law and Politics and the Virginia Journal of Social Policy & The Law 471. He served as a law clerk to Judge Gershwin A. Drain of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and to Judge Thomas A. Vanaskie of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University. 

  • DRW Holdings, LLC
  • Mercedes-Benz USA LLC
  • The J. M. Smucker Company 
  • PIM Brands, Inc. 
  • Cresco Labs, Inc.
  • S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.
  • Walmart Inc. 

Product Liability, Mass Tort Litigation and False Advertising Matters

  • Served as trial counsel in multiple product liability trials for an agricultural biotechnology corporation. Represented the company in its first eight-week jury trial, in which the trial team successfully reduced a punitive damages award by US$211M, and the verdict was further reduced on appeal. Then represented the company in a later case which led to an extremely favorable settlement on the verge of trial. 
  • Represented large aviation company in handling the discovery and initial litigation for the consolidated cases that resulted from aviation accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
  • Defended cannabis manufacturer against sweeping class actions accusing the company of mislabeling practices to increase sales of its products and said the putative class unknowingly purchased "noncompliant and valueless" cannabis products that they otherwise wouldn't have purchased
  • Defended medical device company in multiple product liability wrongful death actions resulting in favorable settlements for the client.
  • Defended a food & beverage manufacturer in a billion-dollar multidistrict litigation class action arising from allegations that the food manufacturer systematically mislabeled its products.
  • Counseled and represented large national retailer in proposed class action that claims the retailer has failed to comply with the FTC’s pre-sale availability rule.

First Amendment & Media Litigation

  • Defended a multibillion-dollar case against a large media company that the New York Times said was “one of the most consequential First Amendment cases in a generation.”
  • Served as a member of the trial team in what had, at one point, been widely reported as the “largest” and “one of the most significant” defamation cases in U.S. history, helping to achieve a “historically large” settlement for a beef manufacturer in the middle of trial. 
  • Represented numerous individuals and companies in pre-publication counseling and post-publication negotiation to help guide them through complex, fast-moving reputational risk.

Appeals

  • Successfully oversaw the voluntary dismissal of several proposed class action victories against food & beverage manufacturers on appeal.
  • Briefed an appeal in the Federal Circuit, which affirmed a US$680K attorney fee award for our client after our opponents advanced an “unusually weak” position in litigation.
  • Briefed two high-profile appeals and the corresponding district court litigation in the Eleventh Circuit and the Eighth Circuit, which affirmed that our client did not arbitrarily create policies for the donation of kidneys and livers.
  • Briefed an appeal before the Third Circuit, which affirmed the rejection of a constitutional challenge to an occupancy tax imposed by our client, a territory of the United States.
  • Briefed and an appeal in the Fifth Circuit, which affirmed that our client was not for an ICD supposedly causing inappropriate shocks to a plaintiff’s heart.
  • Assisted with briefing and oral argument preparation for pharmaceutical company in qui tam appeal involving the scope of the FCA’s public disclosure bar.

Pro Bono

  • Briefed and argued an appeal in an Illinois Appellate Court, leading to the reversal of a conviction for the unlawful stop and arrest our client for carrying a cup of unidentifiable liquid at night.
  • Briefed and argued an appeal in the Eighth Circuit, securing the release of our client while pending appeal, and then helping with his compassionate release from federal prison under the First Step Act.
  • Principal drafter of an amicus brief before the Supreme Court for a group of legal scholars in support of a petition for certiorari addressing whether the “overwhelming evidence” standard should not be used to consider the potential effect of an error only on the government’s case as opposed to the case as a whole.
  • Principal drafter of an amicus brief before the Supreme Court for a group of Fourth Amendment scholars in support of a petition for certiorari addressing whether a pretextual search based on probable cause to suspect a mere parking violation is consistent with the Fourth Amendment.
  • Principal drafter of an amicus brief before the Fifth Circuit in support of individual appellants and the Attala County NAACP in their suit against Doug Evans, a District Attorney in Mississippi, for the discriminatory striking of Black jurors from criminal trials.
  • Principal drafter of an amicus brief before the Fifth Circuit in support of individual appellants in their suit against an ankle monitoring company and former judge of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court (“OPCDC”), arguing that the judge’s personal, financial, professional, and political ties to the company resulted in him ordering or steering defendants to ankle monitoring services with company, in violation of the Due Process Clause.
  • University of Virginia School of Law
    (J.D., 2014)
  • Georgetown University
    (B.A., Government and History, 2011)
  • The State Bar of Maryland
  • The State Bar of Illinois
  • United States Court of Appeals: 
    • Second Circuit
    • Third Circuit
    • Fifth Circuit
    • Sixth Circuit
    • Seventh Circuit
    • Eighth Circuit
    • Ninth Circuit 
    • Eleventh Circuit
    • Federal Circuit 
  • United States District Courts
    • Northern District of Illinois
    • Central District of Illinois
    • Eastern District of Michigan
  • Winston Taylor LLP:
    • Partner, 2022-2026
    • Associate, 2016-2022
  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Thomas I. Vanaskie:
    • United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 2015-2016
  • Law Clerk to the Honorable Gershwin A. Drain:
    • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 2014-2015
  • Recognized by Law360 as a "Rising Star" in Class Action Litigation (2026)
  • Recognized by Chambers USAas “Up and Coming” for Litigation: General Commercial – Illinois (2025-2026)
  • Recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch®in Americafor Commercial Litigation and Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants (2024)
  • Recognized by Benchmark LitigationUS, “40 & Under” List for Dispute Resolution (2024–2026)
  • Recognized by Legal 500 USas a “Key Lawyer” in the areas of Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action - Defense: Consumer Products (2023–2024); Media, Technology and Telecoms: Advertising and Marketing: Litigation (2023–2024); and Dispute Resolution: General Commercial Disputes (2025-2026)
  • Recognized in Lawdragon’s“500 X – The Next Generation,” in the areas of Class Actions, Product Liability, and Mass Tort (2023, 2025-2026)
  • Recognized by The National Black Lawyers (NBL), “Top 40 Under 40” (2020)

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