About Kirk Hartley
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Since becoming a lawyer in 1983, Kirk’s almost 30 years of practice have focused on advising a wide range of corporations, associations, and individuals (as both plaintiffs and defendants) on both tort and commercial law issues centered around “mass torts.”
Kirk's career includes handling asbestos and other product liability claims for defendants, insurance coverage litigation for policyholders, representation of creditors in mass tort Chapter 11 cases, and multiple inter-corporate battles regarding “shared” insurance rights, fiduciary duties, product recall obligations, tort resolution trusts, and indemnification and subrogation rights. The overall result is that Kirk is deeply familiar with the growing and changing intersections between tort law, corporate law, insurance, and science, as well as the increasing use of bankruptcies, schemes of arrangement and trusts (or funds) to resolve or limit underlying contingent liability claims.
Kirk’s experiences and breadth of vision are unique because he is perhaps the only lawyer who has negotiated and taken to judgment so many cases involving different types of “mass tort” issues. The lawsuits and arbitrations taken to judgment include underlying tort claims, insurance coverage claims, class certification rulings, tort litigation trust issues, as well as judgments on indemnification rights and obligations, civil and criminal liabilities for prior manufacturing and waste disposal operations, government cost recovery claims, fraudulent conveyances, and Chapter 11 issues for creditors with claims related to bankruptcies driven by mass torts. Kirk has served clients in venues ranging from Delaware Chancery to Madison County, Illinois to federal courts around the country, and in various private arbitrations and overseas claims.
Kirk created LSP Group LLC in June 2011 to continue and focus his work on “mass tort” and related issues involving law, science and policy. Kirk’s immediate prior practice focused on representing policyholders against insurers for a national insurance coverage boutique (Childress Duffy). Kirk also enjoyed over 25 years as a partner in a national law firm (Katten Muchin Rosenman) and then a litigation boutique (Butler Rubin Saltarelli & Boyd). Those 25 years included representing both public companies and private entities in mass tort issues, as well as litigation and negotiation of traditional commercial issues.
While creating LSP in June 2011, Kirk also joined a highly regarded national consulting firm known as Gnarus Advisors LLC. The Gnarus firm is focused on economic issues, and includes an unmatched group of individuals deeply focused on environmental and mass tort issues. The Gnarus team includes multiple Ph.D.s, and gathers together a group with unmatched depth of experience and knowledge, including both formal and practical education.
