If you have a child with a birth defect, who is under age 20 and the birth mother worked with chemicals during pregnancy, you need to call us.

Chemicals cause cancer by corrupting the process of cell division and creating mutations.

Chemicals that are mutagens deform cells in the developing embryo and fetus, resulting in high rates of miscarriages and children born with birth defects.

Chemicals that are mutagens are teratogens that result in retardation and deformities.

We can make a tremendous difference for you and your child.

Children in California, Washington, Illinois, Ohio, New York, Vermont and France have benefited because of our experience, extraordinary resources and readiness and our results have earned us a national reputation.

If your child was exposed to chemicals during pregnancy, you need lawyers with hands-on experience in proving the cause of birth defects, combined with a solid track record of delivering results, and the financial resources to take on the major expense of a birth defects case.

Call to find out if we can make a difference for you or your family. There is no charge. Please contact us by email or call 1.888.777.1776.

Our partner Amanda Hawes leads our birth defects team.

Amanda Hawes stands alone as the most knowledgeable lawyer in the United States representing people injured by chemicals, and with her unparalleled scientific knowledge in the field of toxic chemicals, Amanda has championed on-the-job safety for more than three decades.

In 1978-79, Amanda petitioned Cal-OSHA to ban TCE from California workplaces and to control so-called safe substitutes. She secured the toughest workplace standard for TCE in the world and has continued a campaign to bring environmental levels of safety to the workplace.

Amanda is brilliant. At Wellesley College she was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa and at the Harvard Law School served on the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Amanda has taught toxic chemical litigation at the Hastings College of Law and the Santa Clara Law School and has lectured to bar associations and worker groups throughout Europe and the Far East.

She is the co-founder of the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and Health, focusing on chemical hazards and reproductive health.

Amanda was the U.S. representative to the international conference in Manila on "The Impact of the Electronics Industry on Women Workers" and provided oversight on a Silicon Industry Association study of miscarriages in the electronics industry.

In 1992 the New York Times reported "Miscarriages and Chip-making Chemicals Linked: IBM Finds a Chemical Risk" and quoted Amanda Hawes, a recognized expert in the field: "This is a confirmation of what has been known for some time."

By tightly focusing on toxic chemical cases Amanda has helped us make a significant difference for our clients.

Amanda spear-headed representation of more than 150 families ravaged by the contamination of well water by TCE and other solvents leaking from underground "storage" at the IBM-Fairchild manufacturing plant in San Jose. Those chemicals were circulated by the Great Oaks Water Company in South San Jose and caused widespread birth defects, miscarriages and cancer.

Amanda was the leading force in our confidential recoveries for brain damage and significant birth defects suffered by scores of children of former IBM "clean room" workers.

More than 240 IBM workers suffered cancer or death from cancer because of exposure to ethylene glycol, photoresist, xylene, n-butyl acetate, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, methyl ethyl ketone, methanol, freon, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, adhesives and epoxy resins in the manufacture of electronic semiconductors.

IBM children suffered as well.

Children exposed while in the womb to these chemicals have suffered blindness, microcephaly, ocular malformations and malformations of the face, heart and skeleton.

There was no family history of birth defects for these IBM children, and either one parent at the time of conception, or their mother during pregnancy, worked with IBM "clean room" chemicals.

Lawsuits for the lifelong personal injuries were brought in Westchester County, New York against IBM and its chemical suppliers, which included Hoechst Celanese, Shell, Dupont, Union Carbide and other international companies, who failed to warn of the hazards of solvents so that pregnant mothers could avoid exposure.

In a separate electronics industry case we secured a confidential recovery for Daryl Severson who suffered brain damage during his mother's pregnancy when she was exposed to trichloroethylene that she used on a daily basis cleaning to spray clean electronic chips. The defendant was a subsidiary of a nationally recognized chemical manufacturer. Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Our record continues on behalf of the child of a 23 year-old, non-English speaking, Chinese immigrant who was assured by her employer that cleaning dust from gallium arsenide wafers with methanol was safe during her pregnancy. OSHA investigations confirmed arsenic dust throughout this California manufacturing plant. The child was born blind and with brain injury. The recovery is held in a Special Needs Trust, which allows lifetime benefits for special care to be augmented with supportive services. The employer paid this recovery after years of litigation and required that its name never be mentioned. For all the details please see Dangerous Chemicals at Work Caused Birth Defects.

To represent children maimed by toxic chemicals takes substantial resources and the experience to secure a team of experts in the fields of industrial hygiene, toxicology, epidemiology, pediatric neurology, and child development, plus economic and financial experts in the fields of lifecare planning and economics.

For example, we know of no other law firm that can make the claim to having funded a major contribution to scientific knowledge of the hazards of toxic solvent exposures in the electronics industry. During our work for employees of IBM we discovered a high number of deaths caused by cancer, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma. We retained award-winning epidemiologist Dr. Richard Clapp of Boston University to investigate and provided him with IBM's Corporate Mortality File, over 10,000 death certificates, the personnel records of employees working in IBM's San Jose manufacturing facilities and the financial support to conduct a detailed study. Dr. Clapp's findings proved that IBM workers that worked with solvents had a much higher rate of cancer than the general population. Dr. Clapp's research and findings were published in the Environmental Health Journal, October 19, 2006 after IBM fought and tried to censor this scientific knowledge. Hiding Deaths in the Factories: IBM's Efforts to Censor a Scientific Study of Cancer in the Electronics Industry.

Having the best evidence, such as Dr. Clapp's unique research, takes money - lots of it. Dr. Clapp's study alone cost more than $120,000.

Being prepared for trial is an investment we take seriously because we know our determination makes the difference between an expedient settlement and a just award. Some call us "aggressive." We call it having a passion for justice.

Please watch our client videos and read their A+ reviews.

Our clients' evaluations are more important to us than the legal ratings, which are the highest given, that we have been awarded from independent agencies: Martindale-Hubbell, Preeminent Law Firms in the United States, Avvo.com, and Super Lawyers of Northern California.

Our peers recognize us as specialists.

We have been Trial Lawyers of the Year and have been nominated for Street Fighter of the Year twice by Consumer Attorneys of California. We also have been named to the Top 100 California Lawyers of the American Trial Lawyers' Association.

We give back to our community.

No other law firm's members have received the Youth Commission Medal, the Man of the Year Award by the Women's Fund, the Santa Clara School of Law award for dedication to workers who have suffered injustice and the Pro Bono Award from the Center for Occupational Safety and Health.

Our contribution to public education is our Injury Library, a collection of articles explaining in detail the law and providing practical answers in the field of toxic chemical litigation. See also our blog of current commentary on pending health, safety and legal developments.

Call to find out if we can make a difference for you or your family. There is no charge. Email or call 1.888.777.1776.

We are here to help and to make a difference for you and your family.

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