professionalIMG

John B. Koss

Associate
617.348.1641
vCard

Education

  • Boston University (JD)
  • Northwestern University (BA)
  • Northwestern University (MS, Journalism)

Bar Admissions

  • First Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Massachusetts
  • New York
  • United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

Languages

  • Spanish

John’s practice focuses on product liability and complex tort litigation. He is a founding member of Mintz Levin’s Electronic Discovery Practice Group and he serves as Practice Coordinator for this Group. John is also a member of Mintz Levin’s Hiring and Diversity Committees.

He has a diverse litigation and counseling practice with a particular focus on products liability and contract and licensing disputes for life sciences companies. Particularly, John serves as national coordinating, strategy, and discovery counsel for pharmaceutical clients involved in serial litigation. In this role, John advises on liability minimization and prevention strategies as well as information governance and the design and execution of company-wide and multinational discovery plans. John also writes and speaks regularly on discovery law and practice in state and federal courts.

John also has extensive pro bono experience advising victims of domestic violence and organizations that serve these victims in privacy matters and information governance.  

Outside of the office, John is a part-time faculty member at Boston University School of Law, where he teaches in the Legal Writing Program.

Representative Matters

  • Currently representing a publicly traded biotechnology company as national coordinating, strategy, and discovery counsel in product liability disputes initiated in various state, federal, and international courts involving two FDA-approved pharmaceutical drugs for the treatment of lymphoma and multiple sclerosis. 
  • Successfully represented a publicly traded biotechnology company in a wrongful death action brought in state court by the estate of a patient who died following post-market treatment with an FDA-approved pharmaceutical drug.
  • Successfully represented and managed discovery for a leading biotechnology company in a claim brought pro se by a patient who alleged to have suffered an adverse reaction to a placebo formula during participation in a clinical trial study.
  • Successfully obtained a favorable settlement for a publicly traded diagnostic manufacturer in a “bet the company” arbitration premised on claims that the manufacturer’s licensee had failed to develop the manufacturer’s microRNA-based products as required by the governing licensing agreement.
  • Successfully advised a publicly traded pharmaceutical company with respect to divestment of its cardiovascular research and development pipeline as well as a favorable wind-up of an associated collaboration with another pharmaceutical company.
  • Successfully obtained declaratory relief for a publicly traded biotechnology company in an arbitration brought against a collaboration partner seeking to withhold decision-making and development rights in contravention of the governing collaboration agreement associated with a multibillion-dollar FDA-approved treatment for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. 

Recognitions & Awards

  • Up & Coming Lawyer, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and Massachusetts Bar Association (2012)
  • Massachusetts Super Lawyers: Rising Star – Business Litigation (2011 – 2012)

Professional & Community Involvement

  • Member, Fenway Health Board of Directors
  • Member, Fenway Health Board of Visitors
  • Member, Steering Committee of the Young Leaders Council, Fenway Health
  • Member, Massachusetts Bar Association Task Force on Law School Effectiveness