Raquel is a member of Butler Snow's Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare Litigation Group.  She serves as science counsel and furnishes trial teams with scientific and medical defense strategies. She has experience cross-examining plaintiffs, treating physicians, and expert witnesses in complex litigation and mass tort product liability litigation. She is skilled at effectively identifying and interpreting scientific literature and formulating strategies for Daubert-type challenges.

• Drug & Device Litigation
• Products, Catastrophic & Industrial Litigation
• Groundwater & Chemical Exposure Litigation

Pharmaceutical, Medical Device and Healthcare

Raquel has been involved as national science counsel defending Merck in the Propecia® litigation (MDL, New Jersey coordinated proceedings, and standalone cases), in which sexual dysfunction, cognitive complaints, and suicide from Propecia® use for male pattern hair loss were alleged. She has also defended Johnson & Johnson in proceedings alleging Stevens-Johnson Syndrome as a result of Tylenol® and/or Motrin® ingestion. She is currently a member of the science team defending Ethicon, Johnson & Johnson in the hernia mesh (Physiomesh MDL, Physiomesh MCL, Proceed/PVP MCL, and standalone cases) and the Tylenol ASD/ADHD litigations.

She completed her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) at C.U.N.E.F. (Universidad Complutense, Madrid), in Spain, and earned her US law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. She is admitted to practice in Texas, New York, and Spain.

• Significant Cases
  • Tylenol ASD/ADHD Litigation – Science counsel to Johnson & Johnson in multi-district litigation alleging increased risk of offspring Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) following maternal use of acetaminophen during pregnancy.  Responsible for the production of Rule 26 Reports from experts in psychiatry, psychology, and toxicology.  Formulated strategies for the defense of expert witnesses at deposition, and assisted in the preparation of Daubert motions to exclude plaintiff expert opinions and oppositions to prevent exclusion of defense experts on general causation.
  • Proceed/PVP Litigation - national science counsel to Ethicon/Johnson & Johnson defending consolidated proceedings alleging design defect and failure to warn claims arising from the surgical implant of Proceed and PVP mesh to repair abdominal wall hernias. Responsible for the development of medical defense strategies and the production of expert reports from nationally recognized hernia surgeon experts, who submitted over 30 general and case specific expert reports addressing all aspects of ventral hernia repair, Proceed and PVP mesh, as well as discovery pool case fact issues.  
  • Physiomesh Litigation– national science counsel to Ethicon/Johnson & Johnson in multi-district litigation alleging claims of design defect and failure to warn from the implant of Physiomesh during ventral hernia repair surgery.  Responsible for the production of Rule 26 Reports from nationally recognized hernia surgeons for the defense of the litigation, deposed plaintiffs, plaintiff hernia surgeon Rule 26 expert witnesses, and prepared Daubert challenges to the admissibility of plaintiff expert opinions.
  • Stevens-Johnson Syndrome/TEN Litigation– science counsel for Johnson & Johnson defending claims that Tylenol and Motrin caused SJS/TEN in pediatric plaintiff. Responsible for the production of Rule 26 Reports from dermatologist, pediatric infectious disease physician, epidemiologist, and clinical pharmacologist. Formulated strategies for the cross examination of plaintiff burn surgeon, toxicologist, and pharmacologist expert witnesses on issues of SJS/TEN epidemiology, general and specific causation, and the lymphocyte toxicity assay.
  • Propecia Litigation– national science counsel to Merck in multi-district litigation alleging male sexual dysfunction and cognitive complaints from Propecia (finasteride 1 mg) use for male pattern hair loss.  Responsible for the production of Rule 26 Reports from experts in epidemiology, endocrinology, psychiatry, dermatology, and basic science.  Formulated strategies for the cross-examination of plaintiff expert witnesses in male sexual medicine, epidemiology and biochemistry, and prepared Daubert motions to exclude plaintiff expert opinions on general and specific causation in first four MDL bellwether cases.

• Best Lawyers in America®
  • Ones to Watch, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, 2023-2025

• Texas, 2022
• New York, 2016
• Spain, 2011

• University of Chicago Law School, LL.M., 2015
• Instituto de Empresa Law School, LL.M., 2013
• C.U.N.E.F. (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), LL.B., B.A, Law and Business Administration, 2011

• Co-Author, "The COVID Trilogy: The One About the Pandemic," Pro Te: Solutio, Vol. 14, No. 2, June 2021.