Kila Baldwin is a shareholder at the law firm of Anapol Weiss. In her career, Baldwin has been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including as lead counsel in trials that resulted in verdicts of $80 million, $57.1 million, and $41 million against Johnson & Johnson in transvaginal mesh cases.
Baldwin was selected as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer each year from 2019-2023. In 2023 she was recognized on the Superlawyers Top 50 list: Women Pennsylvania Super Lawyers. From 2011-2018 she was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star and from 2014-2019 as a New Jersey Super Lawyer Rising Star, designating her as among the top 2.5 percent of attorneys in the two states who are 40 or younger. She also was selected for the 2017 – 2021 editions of the peer-review publication Best Lawyers in America.
In her most recent case, Baldwin was co-lead counsel at a trial that resulted in a $9.7 million verdict — nearly $11.6 million with prejudgment interest — against a neurosurgeon and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for a patient who suffered brain damage during surgery. This verdict was recognized as the number one surgical error verdict in the United States in 2021 by Top Verdict. Before that, she achieved a $12.75 million settlement with Monteris Medical Inc., the maker of a defective medical device that broke during the same surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.
In May 2019, Baldwin was lead counsel in a six-week trial that resulted in an $80 million jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon Inc. for a Media, Pa., woman injured by a surgically implanted vaginal mesh device. The verdict in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court included $50 million in punitive and $30 million in compensatory damages, making it the country’s most significant compensatory award to date in a vaginal mesh case.
A few months earlier, Baldwin won a $41 million verdict — including $25 million in punitive damages – against J&J for a Lancaster, Pa., woman who suffered permanent injuries from a vaginal mesh device designed and marketed by a company subsidiary.
In late 2017, Baldwin was lead counsel of an all-female trial team that won a major jury verdict against J&J for a Pennsylvania woman injured by a vaginal mesh device made by the company’s Ethicon Inc. subsidiary. The award included $7.1 million in compensatory and $50 million in punitive damages for the behemoth drug and device maker’s reckless behavior in selling the defective product that was implanted in women across the country. The verdict was featured on the BBC program Panorama. In earlier cases, Baldwin was co-counsel in two trials that resulted in verdicts of $12.5 million and $13.5 million for two other women injured by the surgically implanted vaginal mesh products.
Baldwin was co-counsel in litigation that produced a $15 million settlement in a birth injury medical malpractice case against a northern New Jersey hospital, a labor and delivery nurse, and an obstetrician. Before that, she was co-counsel in a case that produced the largest-ever personal injury verdict in Pennsylvania.
In December 2012, Baldwin was co-counsel when a jury in Allegheny County, following a five-week trial, awarded $109 million to the family of a woman who was killed when a West Penn Power electric line fell on her in her own yard. The case was later settled for $105 million.
Baldwin also was co-counsel in the wrongful death case of a tow truck driver who was killed when the parking brake on his Ford F-350 tow truck spontaneously disengaged and he was crushed beneath the vehicle. An Allegheny County jury awarded his family $8.75 million. That case and Baldwin’s critical role are chronicled in the book Bad Brake.
She previously helped litigate the Bridgeport fire case, which concluded in a preliminarily approved settlement of $35 million in April 2008. The settlement benefited more than 100 businesses and individuals who suffered losses in the fire that destroyed the Continental Business Center in Bridgeport, Pa. in 2001.
During the Covid pandemic, Baldwin received a verdict of $1,335,000 in a medical malpractice case involving a delay in diagnosis of ovarian cancer in the U.S. Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Baldwin earned a dual J.D./M.B.A. from the Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was awarded the Beasley Scholarship and two awards for Outstanding Oral Advocacy. While at Temple she studied international law in Rome and was a member of the International Law Society and the Woman’s Law Caucus. Later, while a practicing attorney, she again attended Temple and graduated in 2010 from the LL.M. Program in Trial Advocacy, where she subsequently was appointed an adjunct lecturer.
Baldwin earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from Pennsylvania State University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Schreyer Honors College.
Baldwin’s impressive track record of leadership positions includes:
- President of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice (PAJ) (2022 – 2023), where she has served as parliamentarian, secretary, treasurer, and vice president.
- Appointment to Temple University’s Board of Visitors, a prestigious board comprised of distinguished alumni and professionals with diverse industrial leadership skills and extensive experience.
- Board membership in the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association.
- Board membership in the Attorneys Information Exchange Group, a national litigation organization specializing in cases involving vehicle defects and transportation-related accidents.
- Election to to the Council for the Civil Litigation Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, showcasing her dedication to excellence in the legal field.
Baldwin recently authored a chapter in PAJ’s MedMal for Beginners, a 63-page booklet on handling medical malpractice litigation. Her chapter dealt with “The Interplay Between the MedMal and Medical Product Case.”
Baldwin is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Bar Admissions
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Education
- Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2004
- J.D.
- Honors: Beasley Scholarship
- Honors: Outstanding Oral Advocacy
- Honors: Member, International Law Society
- Honors: Member, Woman’s Law Caucus
- Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2010
- LL.M.
- Temple University Beasley School of Law
- M.B.A.
- Pennsylvania State University, 2001
- Bachelor Degree
- Honors: Member, Schreyer Honors College; Graduated Phi Beta Kappa; Won the President’s Freshman Award
- Major: Economics
Honors and Awards
- National Trial Lawyers – Civil Plaintiff – Top 100
- Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list – 2008, 2011-2022
- New Jersey Super Lawyers list – Selected to Rising Stars: 2014 – 2019
- Best Lawyers in America
- Whose Who of Lawyers
- Top 50 Women Attorneys In Pennsylvania, The American Registry
Kila Baldwin In The News:
- TVM Overview: A Conversation with Kila Baldwin, Anapol Weiss, Simply Convert, 10/25/23
- Dire Predictions Follow Pa. Supreme Court’s Loosening of Medical Malpractice Filing Rules, The Pennsylvania Capital-Star, 10/20/22
- Attorney Kila Baldwin on LiveNOW from FOX: Allentown Day Care Carbon Dioxide Accident, LiveNOW, 10/12/22
- Rules Committees Nix Proposals To Expand Remote Tech in Courts, The Legal Intelligencer, 9/29/22
- Pa. Court Loosens Rules on Where Malpractice Cases Can Be Filed, Claims Journal, 8/20/22
- Judge rules for full delay damages in Brassloff case despite pandemic, The Legal Intelligencer, 2/21/22
- $9.7 million verdict won in botched brain injury case, The Legal Intelligencer, 11/16/21
- Baldwin files suit over Flying Fairy Toy causing eye damage, The Pennsylvania Record, 11/1/21
- Pa. jury awards $1.3M in botched cancer diagnosis suit, Law360 6/21/21
- Baldwin interviewed on the Ebaugh verdict on Great Trials Podcast, 10/20/20
- $12.75M settlement reached with medical device maker, The Philadelphia Inquirer 2/26/20
- Pelvic Mesh Plaintiff Secures $80M Verdict From Phila. Jury Against J&J Subsidiary, The Legal Intelligencer, 5/17/19
- Kline & Specter Lawyers Win $80M Verdict In Vaginal Mesh Case, medtechdive.com, 5/20/19
- Philadelphia jury orders J&J to pay $80 million to Media woman injured by vaginal mesh, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/17/19
- Philadelphia Jury Awards $41M Verdict to Woman Who Needed 9 Surgeries to Fix Defective Pelvic Mesh, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/1/19
- Jury Awards $41M To Woman Who Needed 9 Surgeries To Fix Pelvic Mesh, The Legal Intelligencer 1/31/19
- Pennsylvania woman wins $41 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson, The Philadelphia Inquirer 1/31/19
- Article notes J&J’s “irresponsible actions” over vaginal mesh implant. The Guardian, UK, 9/29/17
- $57.1 Million Vaginal Mesh Verdict Awarded, victim Interviewed, CBS 3, 9/26/17
- J&J Ordered to Pay $57 Million Over Injuries Tied to Pelvic Mesh, Bloomberg, 9/7/17
- Jury delivers $57.1 million verdict vs. J&J in vaginal mesh case, The Legal Intelligencer, 9/7/17
- Sixth Verdict Awards Mesh-Injured Plaintiff Record $57.1 Mill in Philadelphia, Mesh News Desk, 9/7/17
- Manchester woman awarded $57.1 million in vaginal mesh lawsuit, York Dispatch, 9/7/17
Podcast
- Latte With a Lawyer – Kila Baldwin, Partner at Baldwin Matzus Law: Latte with a Lawyer Episode 76
- The Great Trials Podcast – Kila Baldwin | Ebaugh v. Ethicon Women’s Health and Urology | $57.1 million verdict