W. Jeffrey Muskopf

Jeff Muskopf is dedicated to developing thoughtful and efficient solutions to his clients’ legal challenges. He has handled large exposure, complex litigation for more than 20 years, and brings depth of experience and sensibility to each engagement.

Jeff has extensive trial and litigation experience in state and federal courts in Missouri, Illinois, and Texas. He has represented clients in numerous mediations and arbitrations and has served as an arbitrator in many cases.  Jeff has also handled many appeals at the intermediate and Supreme Court levels.

Jeff has served as first-chair trial counsel in a wide variety of cases. Examples include a fraud and breach of fiduciary duty case between former law partners; lender liability claims against a bank; auto accident cases against individuals, a school bus company, and a trash-hauling company; trade secret, noncompete, and tortious interference claims between insurance brokers; and breach of a construction contract. Jeff’s second-chair trial experience also includes a wide variety of complex litigation. Examples include medical malpractice; legal malpractice, a catastrophic personal injury case against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act; a double-fatality industrial accident at a power plant, to name a few.

Jeff’s litigation and arbitration experience includes a broad array of claims—product liability, construction defect and jobsite injuries, class actions, mass torts, toxic torts (asbestos, silica, coal dust, benzene, and other contaminants), consumer and common law fraud, premises liability, professional liability, negligence and strict liability, trade secret, non-compete, tortious interference with contract and business expectancy, retaliatory discharge, regulatory compliance, temporary restraining orders and injunctions, declaratory judgments, trespass, nuisance, real estate litigation, fiduciary litigation and claims against trustees, contribution and indemnity, spoliation of evidence, wrongful death and survival claims, and many more.

As co-chair of the firm’s Toxic Tort & Environmental Service Group, Jeff  manages and defends thousands of asbestos and other mass tort claims against product manufacturers and sellers, raw materials suppliers, employers, facility owners, contractors, and others in several of the nation’s busiest and most dangerous jurisdictions: Madison, Cook, and St. Clair Counties in Illinois and the City of St. Louis, Missouri.

Throughout all of this work, what Jeff finds particularly rewarding is the opportunity to collaborate with clients, experts, co-counsel, and others in the development and execution of resolution strategies to achieve the clients’ business objectives, and to minimize risk, exposure, and expense.  Listening, asking thoughtful questions, clear communication, developing effective working relationships, and a high level of preparation are among Jeff’s many strengths that produce excellent outcomes in matters that are often complex and challenging.

Outside the office Jeff enjoys traveling, spending time with his family, and designing and building handcrafted wood furniture.