Victor E. Schwartz

Victor Schwartz chairs Shook Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.’s Public Policy Group, which focuses on integrating litigation, government affairs, and public relations.  The group seeks to be the vanguard of developing public policy issues that will help improve our civil justice system.  Mr. Schwartz also has an active appellate practice and advises product manufacturers on liability prevention, litigation and public relations issues.  He currently serves as General Counsel to the American Tort Reform Association.

Sought by print and broadcast media, Mr. Schwartz is frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.  He has appeared on Oprah, 60 Minutes and leading news programs.  The Legal Times of Washington has named Mr.  Schwartz one of Washington’s Top 30 “Visionary” lawyers, and The National Law Journal named Mr. Schwartz one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the United States in 2013.

Mr. Schwartz is co-author of the most widely used torts casebook in the United States, Prosser, Wade and Schwartz’s Torts (13th ed. 2015).  He is also author of the leading text Comparative Negligence (5th ed. 2010).

Mr. Schwartz has been a principal advisor for each of the American Law Institute’s (ALI) Restatement (Third) of Torts projects; Products Liability, Apportionment of Liability, and Liability for Physical Injury and Emotional Harm.  He is a life member of the ALI.  In light of this experience, he is a frequent speaker at judicial education programs. 

Prior to entering the full time practice of law, Mr. Schwartz was a professor and dean at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.  He currently serves on the College’s Board of Visitors.  In 2012, the College established the Professor Victor E. Schwartz Chair in Tort Law.

Mr. Schwartz, while at the U. S. Department of Commerce, served as chair of the Federal Inter-Agency Task Force on Product Liability, and the Federal Inter-Agency Council on Insurance.  He was the principal author of the Uniform Product Liability Act and the Federal Risk Retention Act.  He received the Secretary of Commerce’s Award for Professional Excellence.

Mr. Schwartz obtained his B.A. summa cum laude from Boston University and J.D. magna cum laude from Columbia Law School.  He is a member of the bars of New York, Ohio, and the District of Columbia.