National coordinating counsel oversees a defendant's portfolio of related matters, maintaining consistent positions on science and corporate testimony, managing common expert development, controlling document productions, and supervising local counsel.
The role is common in mass tort, product liability, and asbestos defense.
Alternative Names:
NCC, Coordinating Counsel
Why it Matters?
Coordination exists to prevent the inconsistency that plaintiff counsel exploit across jurisdictions: a corporate witness who testified one way in Texas and differently in Pennsylvania becomes impeachment material in every subsequent case. Coordinating counsel also maintains the document production repository, ensuring the same materials are produced consistently, and preserves privilege positions that a single local firm might inadvertently waive.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Why do companies retain national coordinating counsel?
How does the role relate to local counsel?
