Biography

H. Laddie Montague Jr. is Chairman Emeritus of the Firm, in addition to his continuing work as Of Counsel. Mr. Montague was Chairman of the Firm from 2003 to 2016 and served as a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee for decades, having joined the Firm’s predecessor David Berger, P.A., at its inception in 1970.

In addition to being one of the courtroom trial counsel for plaintiffs in the mandatory punitive damage class action in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Litigation, Mr. Montague has served as lead or co-lead counsel in many class actions, including, among others, High Fructose Corn Syrup Antitrust Litigation (2006), In re Infant Formula Antitrust Litigation (1993) and Bogosian v. Gulf Oil Corp. (1984), a nationwide class action against thirteen major oil companies.  Mr. Montague was co-lead counsel for the State of Connecticut in its litigation against the tobacco industry. He is currently co-lead counsel in several pending class actions. In addition to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Litigation, he has tried several complex and protracted cases to the jury, including three class actions:  In re Master Key Antitrust Litigation (1977), In re Corrugated Container Antitrust Litigation (1980) and In re Brand Name Prescription Drugs Antitrust Litigation, M.D.L. (1997-1998).  For his work as trial counsel in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Litigation, Mr. Montague shared the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice 1995 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award.

Mr. Montague has been repeatedly singled out by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as one of the top antitrust attorneys in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  He is lauded for his stewardship of the Firm’s antitrust department, referred to as “the dean of the Bar,” stating that his peers in the legal profession hold him in the “highest regard,” and explicitly praised for, among other things, his “fair minded[ness].”  He also is or has been listed in Lawdragon, An International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers, and The Legal 500: United States (Litigation). He has repeatedly been selected by Philadelphia Magazine as one of the top 100 lawyers in Pennsylvania. Mr. Montague has also been one of the only two inductees in the American Antitrust Institute’s inaugural Private Antitrust Enforcement Hall of Fame.

He has been invited and made a presentation at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Paris, 2006); the European Commission and International Bar Association Seminar (Brussels, 2007); the Canadian Bar Association, Competition Section (Ottawa, 2008); and the 2010 Competition Law & Policy Forum (Ontario).

Mr. Montague is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A. 1960) and the Dickinson School of Law (L.L.B. 1963), where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Dickinson Law Review. He is the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Dickinson School of Law of Penn State University and current Chairman of the Dickinson Law Association.

Professional Leadership

  • Member, Advisory Board of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Report published by the Bureau of National Affairs
  • Director of the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia

Business and Community Leadership

  • Past board member of the Friends of Independence Park
  • Chairman of the Board of Governors (now Board of Counselors) of The Dickinson School of Law
  • Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Dickinson Law Association
  • Board of Editors, Dickinson Law Review

Prominent Judgments and Settlements

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Honors & Awards:

  • 2023 Edition “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers
  • Received 2022 Best Lawyers in Antitrust law & Litigation
  • Received the National Law Journal’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award
    Received The Legal Intelligencer’s 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Named to The Legal 500’s 2020 Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff division in the United States
  • Named a Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer (2019 – 2020), and 2022
  • Named a 2019 Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360
  • Named a 2019 Influencer of Law by the Philadelphia Inquirer
  • Named to the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2019 Best of the Bar: Philadelphia’s Top Lawyers
    AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale Hubbell, representing the highest rating for professional excellence
  • The most recent editions of Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Business Lawyers have repeatedly singled out Mr. Montague as one of the top antitrust attorneys in the City of Philadelphia
  • 2008 Lawdragon 500 writes of Mr. Montague: “Respected jurists use words like “extraordinary,” “efficiency and imagination” and “results that speak for themselves” to describe the work of this personal injury pro”
  • 2007-2010 Legal 500 – Chair H. Laddie Montague “brings long experience and gravitas to the practice, who is commended by clients for ‘building a strong team and making sure that it is always performing well’” (2009)
  • Selected as a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer,” 2004-2022 and “Top 100 List” in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
  • Selected as a “Best Lawyer in America,” 2006 – 2021 and named the 2012 Antitrust Lawyer of the Year in Philadelphia by Best Lawyers
  • Mr. Montague and Peter Kahana shared (with the entire trial team) in the 1995 “Trial Lawyer of the Year Award” given by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, a national public interest law firm dedicated to using trial lawyers’ skills and resources to create a more just society
  • Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
  • Inducted to the American Antitrust Institute’s inaugural Private Antitrust Enforcement Hall of Fame.

Admissions

  • Member – Pennsylvania Bar
  • Admitted – United States Supreme Court
  • Admitted – Pennsylvania Supreme Court
  • Admitted – Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • Member – District of Columbia
  • Admitted – Second Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Third Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Admitted – Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals