Liz McLafferty

For the entirety of her career, Liz has advocated for those injured by the wrongful acts of others. Liz focuses her work primarily on medical negligence, product liability litigation, wrongful death, and serious personal injury. Liz’s product liability experience ranges from automobile defects to consumer products.

Liz was born and raised in the Seattle area. She earned undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Political Science from Western Washington University. After graduating with honors, Liz attended the Seattle University School of Law, graduating cum laude. She also served as a law clerk extern to the Honorable Ricardo S. Martinez at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Liz is on the WSAJ Board of Governors. Liz has written articles and chapters primarily focused on medical negligence and product liability, including a chapter in both the WSAJ Product Liability Deskbook and the WSAJ Medical Negligence Deskbook. She is listed as a “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers and has a 10 out of 10 rating on Avvo.com.

• $1.8 million medical malpractice settlement in a failure to diagnose a perforation case.
• Confidential settlement for injuries resulting from the Amtrak 501 train derailment in Dupont, WA.
• $2.5 million medical malpractice settlement for a failure to diagnose a specific medical emergency.
• $4.8 million medical malpractice settlement for failure to diagnose cardiac arrest. 
  
• $5.5+ million personal injury settlement for injury on a construction site. 
  
• Confidential product liability settlement for injuries to a toddler caused by a button battery.
• Confidential settlement in nursing home/medical malpractice matter for failing to check a patient’s INR levels, resulting in a brain bleed and death.
• Confidential product liability settlement on behalf of a young woman who was catastrophically injured when a vehicle’s roof collapsed in an accident.
• Confidential product liability settlement on behalf of a 7-year old girl who was catastrophically injured in an accident by her lap-only seat belt.
• Confidential product liability settlement for wrongful death of a 17-year old boy resulting from a tire tread separation.
• Confidential product liability settlement for wrongful death of a man due to a defective tire and door latch.
• Confidential medical malpractice settlement for injury resulting when the surgeon operated on the wrong location of a woman’s cervical spine.

Education

• Seattle University School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 2012
• Western Washington University, B.A., cum laude, 2009

Admissions

• Washington State
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

• Washington State Association of Justice (Board Member: 2017 – Present)
• American Association for Justice
• Attorneys Information Exchange Group
• King County Bar Association
• Seattle Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Roundtable

Professional Recognition

• Selected to Washington Rising Stars by Super Lawyers® (2016-2022)
• Selected to Washington Super Lawyers by Super Lawyers® (2023)
• “Superb” (10 out of 10) by AVVO

Select Publications and Presentations

• Speaker on Defective Vehicles, Spring Conference (2022)
• "Motions Practice" Chapter, co-author, WSAJ Medical Malpractice Deskbook (2021) 
• Winter Conference Co-Chair, Washington State Association for Justice (2020)
• “Constellation Nebula: How ACOG sets birth trauma causation criteria to defeat malpractice claims,” Trial News, Washington State Association for Justice (2018)
• “E-Cigs: Bombs in Your Mouth,” Trial News, Washington State Association for Justice (2017)
• “The Bair Hugger: Infecting Unsuspecting Patients Nationwide,” Colorado Trial Lawyer Association publication (2016)
• Moderator, WSAJ Winning with Witnesses CLE (2015)
• “Takata recalls millions of airbags due to shrapnel ejection potential,” Trial News, Washington State Association for Justice (2015)
• Product Liability 30(b)(6) Witnesses Book Chapter, co-author, WSAJ Product Liability Deskbook (2014)
• “Roof crush leads to Jeep Liberty passenger’s catastrophic injury,” Trial News, Washington State Association for Justice (2014)
• “The Rise of Button Battery Injuries,” AIEG Voice, Attorneys Information Exchange Group (2014)
• “Toyota sudden unintended acceleration,” Trial News, Washington State Association for Justice (2013)