Frederick Ufkes is a trial attorney with more than 25 years of experience in complex litigation, environmental, toxic torts, mass torts and products liability defense.

He has national and regional counsel experience in both products liability and mass torts, and has defended companies engaged in manufacturing a broad spectrum of products, including chemicals, chemical solvents, asbestos, pharmaceuticals, electronics, computer software and hardware, heavy machinery, construction equipment and consumer products.

In addition, Mr. Ufkes has handled a substantial number of matters involving compliance and litigation surrounding California’s Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. He has counseled manufacturers and distributors of both consumer and industrial products at the pre-marketing phase for compliance on a “go forward” basis. He has also defended consumer class actions and state regulatory cases alleging violation of the Act, seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He has litigated matters under the federal CERCLA, RCRA, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act statutes for property owners and lessees as well as manufacturing enterprises engaged in plastics manufacturing. Mr. Ufkes has been lead trial counsel for a number of Fortune 500 companies. Many of these cases were brought by plaintiffs claiming exposure to industrial solvents, degreasers, paints, adhesives and epoxies. He has also been trial counsel in asbestos litigation throughout California.

He has tried cases involving a broad spectrum of consumer products, and litigated cases involving issues affecting products liability, including market share liability, limitations on punitive damages, causation standards under federal and state law, and federal preemption.

A selection of Mr. Ufkes’s representative cases includes:

• Mr. Ufkes successfully defended the world’s largest manufacturer of surfboard blanks against claims by employees for cancer allegedly caused by exposure to chemicals used in the manufacturing process.
• He is one of the few trial attorneys in the country who has successfully defended through trial a products liability case where the plaintiff claimed that his leukemia was caused by benzene exposure.
• Mr. Ufkes was actively involved in the national coordination of DES cases for a pharmaceutical company in the 1980s, and for all products liability claims affecting a manufacturer of medical devices such as surgical instruments.

Mr. Ufkes’s reported decisions include:

• In Re Vaccine Cases, 134 Cal.App.4th 438 (2005).
• Rivas v. Safety-Kleen Corp., 98 Cal.App.4th218 (2002).
• Bockrath v. Aldrich Chemical Co. et al., 21 Cal.4th 71 (1999).

Mr. Ufkes joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in January 2009. Previously he was a partner in the Los Angeles office of K&L Gates LLP.

Mr. Ufkes is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Association of Southern California Defense Counsel and the Litigation Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is also a member of the American Bar Association’s sections on Torts and Insurance, and Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law. He is also a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Services Pro Bono Mediation and Arbitration panels.

Mr. Ufkes holds the AV® Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, its highest rating for ethics and legal ability. In 2010 and again in 2011, he was named to the Super Lawyer list in the area of Civil Litigation Defense, by Southern California Super Lawyers magazine. Mr. Ufkes has published articles in a variety of areas of law, including the federal preemption of Proposition 65 claims. His publications include:

• "Avoiding a Quagmire: Environmental and Product Liability Issues," co-author, The M&A Journal, April 2007.
• “Bates v. Dow: Are Pesticides Now Subject to Regulation under Prop. 65,” Prop. 65 Clearinghouse, September 15, 2005.
• “Message in ‘Lockheed’: Judges Must Control Medical Testimony,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, February 14, 2005.
• “Prop. 65 – The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Bitter Pill?” Prop 65 News, October 2003.
• “Be Wary of Prop. 65,” Nutritional Outlook, October 2003.
• “When is Compliance Necessary: Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Prop 65,” Pharmaceutical & Medical Device Law Bulletin, July 2003.
• “Proposition 65: The New Requirements in 2002,” Toxic Chemicals Litigation Reporter, May 2002.

He has spoken and presented on topics including complex case management strategies and litigation skills in addition to toxic tort and environmental matters. Following is a sampling of his presentations:

• “Litigation of Benzene-Related Lymphoid Cancer Cases: Recent Settlements and Verdicts,” HarrisMartin's Benzene Litigation & Lymphoid Cancers: New Scientific Evidence Conference, Marina Del Rey, California, December 2010.
• “Corporate and Insurance Perspectives: Minimizing the Financial Impact of Benzene Litigation,” HB Benzene Litigation Conference, San Francisco, July 2009.
• “Opening Statements,” HarrisMartin Benzene Litigation Conference: Trial of a Benzene-Leukemia Case from Jury Selection to Verdict, New York, December 2007.
• Co Chair: Mealey's Benzene Litigation Conference, Santa Monica, California, June 2007.
• “Emerging Solvents Claims,” HarrisMartin Cutting Edge Toxic Torts Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona, December 2006.

Mr. Ufkes is a Lector at St. Matthews Episcopal Church in Pacific Palisades, California. He is also a member of the University of California, San Diego Alumni Association Board of Directors.