
H. Laddie Montague Jr.
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
- In re Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Litigation, ($507.5 million award)
- In re Infant Formula Antitrust Litigation, ($125 million settlement)
- Bogosian v. Gulf Oil Corp., ($35 million settlement)
- In re Brand Name Prescription Drugs Antitrust Litigation, ($717 million settlement)
- In re High Fructose Corn Syrup Antitrust Litigation, ($531 million settlement)
- In re Microcrystalline Cellulose Antitrust Litigation, ($50 million settlement)
- In re Master Key Antitrust Litigation, ($21 million settlement)
- The State of Connecticut Tobacco Litigation, ($3.6 billion settlement)
- In re Corrugated Container Antitrust Litigation, ($366 million settlement)
In the News
- Berger Montague Named 2021 Elite Trial Lawyers
- Berger Montague’s Antitrust Practice Group Ranked in Chambers USA 2021
- H. Laddie Montague Jr. Wins 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award; Camille Fundora Rodriguez Named Rising Star of the Plaintiffs Bar by the National Law Journal
- Berger Montague Wins Four Awards in Legal Intelligencer’s 2021 Professional Excellence Awards Series
- Legal Titan H. Laddie Montague Jr. Retires After Five Decades of Shaping Class Action Litigation
- Berger Montague’s Antitrust Practice Group, Department Co-Chairs Ranked in Chambers USA 2020
- H. Laddie Montague Jr. Named 2019 “Best of the Bar” by Philadelphia Business Journal
- Berger Montague Named Tier 1 Antitrust Law Firm in The Legal 500 United States 2019; Eric L. Cramer, H. Laddie Montague Jr., and Caitlin G. Coslett Win Additional Awards
- H. Laddie Montague Jr. Named a 2019 Titan of the Plaintiffs Bar by Law360
- Berger Montague’s Antitrust Practice Group, Department Co-Chairs Ranked in Chambers USA 2019