Erica Smith-Klocek is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice and a member of the firm's Class Action Working Group. She defends life sciences and pharmaceutical clients in a variety of antitrust and commercial litigation matters, including class and other actions brought in state and federal courts by public and private payors alleging illegal pricing and marketing activities. Ms. Smith-Klocek has also represented corporate clients in government investigations and civil actions brought by state and federal authorities. She has litigated cases at both the trial and appellate levels, as well as in arbitrations and mediations.
A recent focus of her practice has been litigation involving Average Wholesale Price pharmaceutical reimbursement claims, where she is defending a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer and its subsidiaries in a series of cases brought by state attorneys general and private payors. Ms. Smith-Klocek also recently represented a major pharmaceutical company with regard to the 340B drug discount program, a matter that was ultimately resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in her client's favor.
Ms. Smith-Klocek is currently representing a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in multiple cases, including class actions, alleging off-label marketing and RICO claims. In one such putative multimillion dollar class action filed in New Jersey state court alleging state consumer fraud and RICO violations, her team won three consecutive summary dismissals—the last by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit—without litigation ever reaching the discovery stage. These pharmaceutical defense wins have significantly contributed to case law influencing ongoing off-label litigation nationwide, effectively undermining the novel legal theories behind off-label drug marketing claims by payors seeking to play the role of consumers under the law.
In the antitrust arena, Ms. Smith-Klocek has represented clients from a variety of industries in cases involving branded pharmaceutical pricing, oriented strand board, and, prior to joining Morgan Lewis, a case involving antitrust allegations against a major software company concerning its operating platform.
For several years, Ms. Smith-Klocek has been a member of the Philadelphia office's Professional Recruiting Committee. She serves on the boards of two legal services organizations and has handled a variety of pro bono matters. In 2011, she was honored by the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development at the St. John's University School of Law.
Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Ms. Smith-Klocek clerked for Judge Thomas G. Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She also served as court counsel to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau and was a litigation associate at a prominent New York law firm.
Ms. Smith-Klocek earned her J.D., magna cum laude, from St. John's University School of Law in 1999, where she was a St. Thomas More Scholar. While in law school, she was an associate editor of the St. John's Law Review and vice president of the Asian American Law Students Association. She earned her B.A. in psychology from Johns Hopkins University in 1996.
Ms. Smith-Klocek is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New York and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.
