Nicole Maldonado is an attorney at Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman and focuses her practice on birth defect cases concerning antidepressants such as Celexa, Effexor, Lexapro, Pristiq, Prozac and Zoloft, and the anticonvusant drug, Topamax.
She was a criminal justice professor at Lansing Community College after graduating from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1999, where she also worked as a teaching assistant for three years while attending law school. She also worked as a judicial law clerk at various times for state and federal judges in Michigan. Shortly after graduating law school Nicole focused her career on Juvenile Dependency Law and private criminal defense work in San Diego, and then in public service as a public defender in Florida, before joining Baum Hedlund to work in mass tort product liability litigation.
Ms. Maldonado has volunteered legal services for the homeless, mentored elementary and high school students in trial competitions and most recently served as a mock trial judge for the AAJ’s 2009 and 2010 Student Trial Advocacy Competitions.
Born:
Education:
- University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida (B.A., 1992)
- Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Lansing, Michigan (J.D. cum laude, 1999)
- Michigan Bar Journal, Contributing Author, 1998
- Associate Editor, Thomas M. Cooley Law Review, 1999
- Chair, Moot Court Board: National Moot Court Competition- Final Four
- First-Year Moot Court Competition- Winner and Best Advocate
- Student-Faculty Moot Court Competition-Winner
- Certificates of Merit Awards: Scholarship Recipient from Mid-Michigan Women Lawyers Association
Admissions:
- California, 2000
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, 2000
- Florida, 2004
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2007
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2008
Member:
- State Bar of California
- Florida Bar
- Central Florida Association of Women’s Lawyers
- Judicial Law Clerk of District Court in Lansing, Michigan, 1998-1999
- Juvenile Dependency Attorney, Independent Contract Office, California, 2000-2001
- Criminal Defense Attorney, California 2001-2002
- Judicial Law Clerk to U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen, U.S. District Court,
Eastern District of Michigan 2002-2004
- Assistant Public Defender Ninth Judicial Circuit for Robert Wesley, Elected Public Defender for Orange and Osceola Counties, Florida 2004-2007
- The American Association for Justice; Section on Toxic, Environmental, and Pharmaceutical Torts (STEP)
Legal Teaching Positions:
- Teaching Assistant, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Lansing Michigan, 1996-1999
- Professor of Law, Criminal Justice, Lansing Community College, 1999
- Trainer, Public Defender’s Office, Orlando, Florida, 2005-2007
Awards and Honors:
- Listed, Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers
Published Cases
-
Cunningham v. SmithKline Beecham, 255 F.R.D. 474 (N.D.Ind. 2009) (ordering defendant to produce documents and awarding sanctions)
- Forst v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 602 F.Supp.2d 960 (E.D.Wis. 2009) (holding that Wisconsin has not adopted the learned intermediary doctrine and allowing all of plaintiffs' claims, including, negligence, fraud and punitive damages to proceed to the jury)
- Forst v. Smithkline Beecham Corp., 639 F.Supp.2d 948 (E.D.Wis.,2009) (holding that plaintiffs' claims are not preempted by federal law)
Pro Bono & Civic Activities:
- Volunteered legal services for the Orange County Homeless Project Connect
- High school and elementary school student mentor. Taught indigent defense, performed mock trials and coached trial competitions.
- Mock Trial Judge for the American Association of Justice, 2009-2010 Student Trial Advocacy Competition
Practice Areas:
- Class Actions
- Complex and Multi-District Litigation
- Consumer Fraud Litigation
- Personal Injury
- Pharmaceutical Drug Product Liability
- Product Liability Law
- Qui Tam Claims
- Whistleblower Protectioin
- Wrongful Death Law
NICOLE K. H. MALDONADO 
