Heather Counts is a partner in the St. Louis office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Products Liability and Toxic Tort & Environmental Litigation Practices. Heather has spent her career representing clients in the defense of consumer products claims and commercial litigation. She acts as national counsel for manufacturers facing litigation in state and federal courts. 

She served on the defense trial team for one of the largest civil RICO cases brought by the Department of Justice (U.S. v. Philip Morris USA), where she handled issues including marketing, consumer risk perception, injury causation and compelled commercial speech. In 2013, she was part of a trial team in West Virginia--one of the nation's top-ranked "Judicial Hellholes"--that successfully defended a tobacco client against products and fraud claims in a mass consolidated plaintiffs' action. More recently, Heather has represented manufacturers at trial facing design defect and failure to warn claims regarding recreational and automotive products in federal and state courts across the country, obtaining defense verdicts.

Heather is experienced in all phases of litigation, from responsive pleadings through post-trial and appellate briefing. Heather's work regarding expert witnesses extends to fields as diverse as epidemiology, neuropsychology, emergency medicine, mechanical engineering, and marketing. 

Heather has experience in legal analysis and brief writing. In particular, she has successfully worked to limit or exclude from trial the opinions of multiple opposing experts, resulting in summary judgment for her clients.

Admissions

• State Bar Admissions
  • Illinois
  • Missouri
• United States District Courts
  • United States District Court for the District of Kansas
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of Missouri
• United States Courts of Appeals
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

Associations

• American Bar Association
• Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
• Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers
• Product Liability Advisory Council 

Awards & Honors

• "One to Watch", Best Lawyers, 2023
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants
  • Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
• Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, "Rising Star", 2012-2016
• Women’s Leadership Academy, Thompson Coburn LLP, 2016

Education

Washington University School of Law

Juris Doctor, 2003

• Order of the Coif
• Washington University Law Quarterly
• Student Clerk, Judge Theodore McMillian, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Washington University in St. Louis

Master of Arts in British and American Literature, 2000 

University of Missouri

Bachelor of Arts in English and Classical Studies, 1999