National Law Journal Names Keller Postman Partners Zina Bash and Ben Whiting to 2022 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers

Keller Postman LLC Partners Zina Bash and Ben Whiting have been named to the National Law Journal’s 2022 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers. The sixth-annual award program recognizes lawyers who have made significant marks on their practice, are “true agents of change” for plaintiffs, and have proven themselves to be formidable leaders.

NLJ has recognized Zina Bash for her work to spearhead the launch of Keller Postman’s Public Institutions Practice. After working at the highest levels of state and federal government—including as senior counsel to the Texas Attorney General, an advisor to several State attorneys general, Special Assistant to the President, an advisor to the White House Counsel, and a Supreme Court clerk—Zina uses her deep understanding of sovereign interests and government priorities to serve her clients’ litigation strategies.

“I saw firsthand how resource constraints made it harder for States to pursue impactful lawsuits on behalf of their constituents, especially against powerful corporations with limitless litigation budgets,” Zina wrote in her 2022 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers Q&A. “That experience inspired me to find other ways to serve States that seek to challenge large-scale corporate wrongdoing, and that led to my joining [Keller Postman].”

Today, Zina is involved in some of the most high-stakes cases across the country. She represents the States of Texas and six other States in Texas v. Google, alleging the tech giant monopolized display advertising markets. She represents the State of Arizona in the national opioid epidemic. She is Interim Co-Lead Class Counsel in a major consumer antitrust case, De Coster et al. v. Amazon.com. And in State of Texas v. Meta Platforms Inc., she represents the State in a lawsuit alleging that the social media giant (formerly known as Facebook) unlawfully captured Texans’ biometric identifiers for commercial purpose without informed consent, among other allegations. The suit seeks civil penalties in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

NLJ has recognized Ben Whiting for his role in leading the development of strategy on multiple campaigns for Keller Postman’s revolutionary mass-arbitration practice, turning the tables on corporations that use arbitration clauses as a liability shield. A former partner at Bartlit Beck, he successfully took several commercial arbitrations through hearings, some with more than $1 billion at stake. He applies his decade of high-stakes, defense-side arbitration experience to shape the success of Keller Postman’s mass-arbitration practice by incorporating a trial-based approach as part of the firm’s broader legal strategy.

Among his notable matters, Ben led individual arbitrations for more than 125,000 Intuit customers who were tricked into paying to file their taxes through TurboTax, even though they were eligible to file for free. Ben drove the firm’s legal strategy for this unprecedented number of simultaneous arbitrations against a single defendant, while also implementing operational efficiencies to give every client the best chance of success. He has also helped ensure that these arbitrations proceed, including by successfully arguing before a California Court of Appeal in Intuit v. 9,933 Individuals.

“The prospect of running thousands of arbitrations simultaneously was unheard of just a few years ago, but defendants now know that this is a real consequence of forced arbitrations,” wrote Ben in his Q&A. “Forced arbitrations are no longer the de facto liability shield they once were [and] compelling arbitration can no longer be the default strategic choice it once was.”

Read More and view the full list of National Law Journal’s 2022 Plaintiffs’ Lawyers Trailblazers.