Julie Becker

JULIE BECKER's practice focuses on the defense of companies in products liability and class action matters in both state and federal trial courts across the United States. Julie has successfully represented clients from a variety of industries, including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, consumer care products, and chemicals.

Julie advises clients at all stages of the litigation process. She has played key roles in the development of defense strategy and briefed successful dispositive and discovery motions in both state and federal court. She also has experience in fact and expert development and discovery, including preparing fact, company, and expert witnesses for depositions, taking depositions and day-to-day case management. Julie has also developed experience in the various state consumer protection statutes, having handled class action consumer fraud cases pending in multiple jurisdictions. Julie has also led clients through class action settlement approval and negotiated individual settlements both directly and through mediation. Julie has prepared witnesses for trial and litigated two federal jury trials, including conducting an opening statement and direct and cross-examinations at trial.

Julie also works with clients to mitigate litigation risk in connection with strategic growth opportunities. Julie graduated cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law. While in law school, she worked in the MacArthur Justice Center’s civil rights litigation clinic on wrongful convictions. In addition, Julie was the winner of Northwestern’s Julius H. Miner Moot Court Competition in 2016, and in 2017, she served as co-chair of this competition. Prior to law school, Julie worked as a litigation paralegal at another international law firm in Chicago. She received her B.A. in English and Spanish from Emory University.

Julie was selected to the Illinois Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers (2022-2026), and has been recognized as one of the top rated Class Action & Mass Torts lawyers in Chicago.

Julie’s representative matters include:

• Obtained a complete dismissal with prejudice on behalf of a vitamin supplement manufacturer in a putative consumer fraud class action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
• Representation of pharmaceutical company in putative class actions arising out of data privacy challenges.
• Obtained denial of class certification and summary judgment on all claims on behalf of a pet food company in a putative class action challenging the sale and labeling of certain pet food products.
• Obtained a complete dismissal in a putative class action filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of a nationwide class of sunscreen purchasers. The plaintiffs alleged that the product was deceptively marketed as hypoallergenic and free of oxybenzone because it contained an alleged contaminant, benzophenone, which results from degradation of an FDA-approved active ingredient, octocrylene. Plaintiffs alleged that the defendants should have both changed their product labeling to warn of the risk of degradation and altered their manufacturing processes to remove the FDA-approved ingredient from the product’s formulation. The court granted Sidley’s motion to dismiss in full.
• Obtained a victory in a massive class action focused on per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) brought against our chemical manufacturer client. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a class certification decision by the Southern District of Ohio, after the district court certified a class consisting of everyone subject to Ohio law with trace amounts of PFAS in their blood, which amounts to virtually every Ohioan. The Sixth Circuit vacated class certification and instructed the district court to dismiss the case for lack of standing. 
• Pre- and early-litigation risk assessment for a major consumer care product manufacturer regarding potential product contamination and the associated recall process. 
• Defending ongoing litigation regarding labeling representations related to benzene and benzophenone contamination in consumer care products in California and New York federal courts. 
• Defending ongoing litigation regarding labeling representations related to sunscreen products, consumer care products, and pet food products on behalf of major manufacturers and retailers.
• Defending ongoing product liability litigation related to products used during in vitro fertility procedures following a recall.
• Negotiating and overseeing a class action settlement that has been approved in federal court involving a sunscreen product.
• Defending a multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company in high-profile, multijurisdictional product liability litigation related to a medical device, including preparation for trial.
• Defending ongoing litigation regarding labeling representations related to sunscreen products and consumer food products on behalf of major manufacturers and retailers.
• Defending a major chemical manufacturer and supplier in multiple personal injury and toxic tort litigations involving alleged harms from environmental chemical exposure.
• Advising a medical device and mobility company in connection with wheel chair system terms and conditions and limiting potential litigation exposure.
• Advising clients on a range of product-related issues that arise in mergers and acquisitions.
• Advising clients on litigation risk associated with potential labeling claims and product formulations. 

Julie is a member of the Chicago Associate Relations Committee and is in the firm’s Women’s Culture Mentoring Circle.

Julie maintains an active pro bono practice. She has recently focused her practice on attempting to obtain compassionate release for inmates that have been subject to sexual abuse or that have received inadequate medical care while incarcerated. Julie also focuses her pro bono practice on other prisoners’ rights litigation against the Bureau of Prisons over rampant sexual abuse.