Comfortable with her persuasive verbal skills by the age of 14, Hildy Sastre decided early in life that the practice of law would be not only an interesting career but also suit her talents perfectly. In 1991, armed with a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, Sastre began her career working for her current firm’s predecessor, Anderson Moss. At this litigation boutique firm, Sastre honed her skills defending primarily catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases.
When her previous firm merged with Shook Hardy 15 years ago, Sastre was able to transition her practice areas into more complex litigation and joined the firm’s pharmaceutical & medical device section. Currently serving as administrative partner for Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Sastre is now responsible for working directly with the managing partner to manage client relationships, engage in business development and marketing in addition to handling her own caseload of complex commercial, medical and products liability matters.
Relying on her extensive experience in the defense of scientific and medical claims, Sastre has served as counsel for many Fortune 100 corporations in cases ranging from class actions to mass torts to individual personal injury matters. She has gained a solid reputation in the industry for her involvement in high profile cases including her seat on the national team that handled the class action diet drug litigation (Fen-Phen) and the Bausch & Lomb Renu contact lens solution litigation in which plaintiff s claim that the solution was causing blindness. Currently, Sastre is serving as the jurisdictional counsel for Pfizer in hormone replacement therapy litigation and on behalf of Bayer in relation to ongoing Yaz/Yazmin litigation.
“There has recently been an increase in claims against pharmaceutical companies highlighting allegedly misleading language or a failure to warn consumers against possible side effects,” mentioned Sastre. “Plaintiff lawyers are getting more creative with their claims, so we are forced to stay on top of any and all angles a case can take which keeps my job interesting.”
Recognized as one of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business by Chambers USA, Sastre is a frequent speaker to state and national bar organizations. Grateful for the opportunities that she received as both a student and as her career took shape, Sastre not only serves as a mentor to new attorneys but is also an avid supporter of the Southern Scholarship Foundation (SSF). A current board member, Sastre works with this non-profit organization that helped her when she needed it most. SSF provides reduced room and board at Florida State University and the University of Florida to students based on merit and need. Sastre was a recipient of this scholarship as an undergrad at Florida State and it offered her an opportunity to attend college.
In the quest to maintain a healthy life-work balance, Sastre enjoys spending time outside of work…outside. Whether spending the day boating with her husband and their two sons or participating in triathlons, Sastre lives for the fresh air of the coast.
