Marcella C. Ducca

Marcella Ducca is a trial attorney, Co-Chair of the Atlanta Products Liability Litigation Group, and a shareholder at the firm. Marcella focuses her practice on the representation and defense of manufacturers in products liability litigation, with an emphasis on pharmaceutical, medical device, and health care litigation. She litigates a variety of complex matters in both state and federal courts, including multidistrict litigations ('MDLs') and mass torts. In addition, Marcella regularly defends major hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare providers in alleged medical malpractice cases.

Marcella is a senior leader on GT’s mass tort litigation teams, managing largescale national litigation as well as individual catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases. Marcella’s practice has been focused on medical devices, particularly women’s health devices and women’s health consumer products. In what has been called by some the most complicated mass tort in history, Marcella selected, retained, and managed dozens of trial experts and also helped build strategy for depositions of thousands of plaintiffs and physicians across the country, deposing many of them. She has also been a key member of several trial teams, including taking on responsibility for day-to-day case management, development of case strategy, and all aspects of fact and expert discovery. In one successful trial-a complete defense verdict when the plaintiff was seeking $28 million in damages-Marcella was instrumental in steering the causation defense and handling the parties’ medical expert witnesses.

Marcella currently oversees all aspects of a nationwide litigation involving inferior vena cava (IVC) filters, including strategy, motion practice, fact discovery, expert discovery, and trial workup. Marcella was part of the multi-office GT team that won a full defense verdict on July 22, 2021 in an IVC filter trial, Couturier v. C. R. Bard, Inc., in the Eastern District of Louisiana. After nine days of trial, including the testimony of 21 witnesses, the jury in the matter deliberated for just 90 minutes before reaching a total defense verdict. Marcella has defended other mass torts, including transvaginal mesh, talcum powder, hernia mesh, and testosterone replacement therapy. Beyond her mass tort work, Marcella is involved in the defense of claims against one of the nation's largest medical device sterilization providers. Marcella recently secured unique dismissals of medical device manufacturers on preemption grounds in Alabama and Oregon.

Marcella is listed in The Legal 500 United States, “Dispute Resolution - Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action - Defense: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices” (2020). She has been selected by Super Lawyers magazine as a Georgia Super Lawyers “Rising Star” from 2013 to the present, was selected as a “Rising Star” by Law360 in 2018, was featured in American Lawyer Media’s Daily Report “On the Rise” section in 2015, and was selected by the American Bar Association (ABA) as one of its “On the Rise: Top 40 Young Lawyers” in the country for 2017. Marcella is a leader on the team that was named The American Lawyer’s “Product Liability Litigation Department of the Year” and “Georgia Regional Litigation Department of the Year” for 2018.

Marcella is a frequent speaker on emerging issues in complex litigation and product liability law. She recently presented at the Atlanta Bar Association, “All About the Experts;” at Emory Law School, “Remedies;” at ACI’s Drug & Medical Device Litigation Conference, “Keys to Effectively Defending MDLs and Navigating the Remand Process from Transfer to Trial;” at ACI’s Women Leaders in Life Sciences; at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, “Proactive Post-Market Surveillance, 510(k) Update, and Real-World Evidence;” at DeviceTalks Minnesota, “M&A, IP, and Product Liability Trends Impacting MedTech;” at Defense Research Institute’s Asbestos Medicine Seminar; and at the Minnesota Women Lawyers’ Annual Conference.

Marcella is a member of the Emerging Leaders Board of Advisors at The Institute for Complex Litigation and Mass Claims at Emory University School of Law.

Concentrations

•Litigation
•Products liability
•Pharmaceutical, medical device and health care litigation
•Multidistrict litigation
•Medical malpractice
•Commercial litigation

Recognition & Leadership

Awards & Accolades

•Listed, Chambers USA Guide, 'Up and Coming,' Georgia - Litigation: Product Liability, 2025
•Band 1 Team Member, Chambers USA Guide, Georgia, Litigation: Product Liability, 2025
•Team Member, Daily Report, Southeastern Legal Awards, 'Products Liability Group of the Year,' 2025
•Team Member, BTI’s Most Recommended Law Firms, Big Pharma, 2025
•Shortlisted, The Legal Benchmarking Group, 'Women in Business Awards - North America Product Liability Lawyer of the Year,” 2025
•Team Member, 'Products Liability Litigation Powerhouse,' BTI Litigation Outlook, 2025
•Listed, Benchmark Litigation, 'Future Star,' 2025-2026
•Listed, Benchmark Litigation, '40 & Under - U.S. Edition,' 2024
•Selected, Euromoney, 'Women in Business Awards - Rising Star: Litigation,' 2022
•Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, 2022-2026
•Product Liability Litigation - Defendants, 2022-2026
•Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants, 2022-2026
•Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants, 2026
•Medical Malpractice Law - Defendants, 2023-2025
•Listed, Super Lawyers magazine, Georgia Super Lawyers, 2025-2026
•Listed, Lawdragon, '500 X - The Next Generation,' 2024
•Shortlisted, LMG Life Sciences, 'U.S. Rising Star - Litigation & Enforcement,' 2024
•Listed, GaBiz, 'Top Lawyers,' 2024
•Listed, Benchmark Litigation, '40 & Under Hot List,' 2022-2023
•Team Member, a Law360 'Product Liability Practice Group of the Year,' 2011, and 2021-2022
•Team Member, The American Lawyer’s 'Regional Litigation Department of the Year - Georgia,' 2018 and 2021
•Listed, The Legal 500 United States, 'Dispute Resolution - Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action - Defense: Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices,' 2020 and 2022-2024
•Selected, Emory University, '40 Under 40,' 2023
•Selected, Super Lawyers magazine, Georgia Super Lawyers, 'Rising Stars,' 2013-2023
•Shortlisted, Euromoney Legal Media Group, Americas Rising Star Awards
•Selected, 'Rising Star: Litigation,' 2020
•Shortlisted, 'Rising Star: Litigation,' 2020
•Shortlisted, “Best in Product Liability,” 2019
•Selected, Law360, 'Product Liability Rising Star,' 2018
•Team Member, The American Lawyer’s “Products Liability Litigation Department of the Year,” 2018
•Selected, ABA 'On the Rise: Top 40 Young Lawyers,' 2017
•Team Member, The Daily Report’s 'Georgia Products Liability & Mass Torts Litigation Department of the Year,' 2013 and 2015-2017
•Team Member, Courtroom View Network’s 'Top Defense Verdict of 2016'
•Team Member, Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly, 'Top Defense Wins in 2016”
•Selected, Daily Report, 'On the Rise,' 2015
•Selected, Georgia Trend magazine, 'Legal Elite,' 2012