Derek Heath Potts

As founder and Managing Partner of The Potts Law Firm, Derek Potts focuses his casework on complex litigation and trials, including mass torts, pharmaceutical matters, and medical device cases. He has become a respected name among the legal community, serving in various national litigation leadership roles, speaking at numerous seminars throughout the country, and obtaining landmark jury verdicts and settlements for his clients.

His impressive list of awards and honors includes recognition among the Top 100 Trial Lawyers by The National Trial Lawyers, being selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America and being named Best of the Bar by the Kansas City Business Journal and American Lawyer Media, and Martindale-Hubbell granted him the title of Top Rated Lawyer in Mass Torts in 2013.

Among his many professional associations, Mr. Potts is a member of the American Association for Justice, where he served on the Board of Governor for New Lawyers for three years. He has also served on the Board of Governors for the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys and the Kansas Association for Justice. He is also a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

Mr. Potts attended William Jewell College, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in History. His scholarship earned him admittance into Phi Alpha Delta, the largest co-ed professional law fraternity in the country. He was also named a member of Mortar Board, a national honor society recognizing outstanding students. After college, he pursued his Juris Doctor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, where he made the Dean’s List, participated as a member of the National Appellate Advocacy Team, and received the Judge Conrad B. Duberstein Appellate Advocacy Award.

Among the many cases he has been a part of, Mr. Potts has served in leadership positions for multiple national litigations, including acting as Liaison and Co-Lead Counsel in In Re Mentor Corp. Obtape Transobturator Sling Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2004 and leading the bellwether trial team in In Re Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 1842 where he was also a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering committee. He currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee for the plaintiffs in transvaginal mesh consolidated litigation, including In Re C.R. Bard, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2187; In Re American Medical Systems, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2325; In Re Boston Scientific Corp., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2326; In Re Ethicon, Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2327; In Re Coloplast Corp., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2387; In Re Cook Medical Inc., Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2440; and In Re Neomedic Pelvic Repair System Products Liability Litigation, MDL Case No. 2511. He was appointed Plaintiffs’ Liaison Counsel in California’s Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings for all Xarelto cases. He is also Plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in the CR Bard and Neomedic MDLs.

He is licensed in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, New York, and Texas, as well as the U.S. District Courts for the District of Kansas, Eastern District of Missouri, Western District of Missouri, Eastern District of Arkansas, Western District of Arkansas, Southern District of New York, Southern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, and the District of West Virginia, and the Middle District of Georgia.