Catelyn McDonough joined Anapol Weiss as an associate in 2016 and focuses her practice on pharmaceutical and medical device mass tort litigation.
Catelyn received her law degree from Delaware Law School-Widener University, cum laude, graduating in the top ten percent of her evening-division class. While in law school, Catelyn excelled in Moot Court and Law Review, received several academic scholarships, and served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Jack A. Panella of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, as well as to the Honorable M. Faith Angell of the United States Magistrate Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Catelyn is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well as the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She is an active member of various organizations including the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, the American Association for Justice (appointed member of the Publication’s Committee), the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, and the Philadelphia Bar Association. She is the immediate past president of the Brehon Irish Law Society and was named an Irish Legal 100 Rising Star. For the past four consecutive years, she has been named a recipient of the “Ones to Watch” award by the Best Lawyers in America publication. She has also been recognized by The National Trial Lawyers Association as a “Top 40 Under 40” attorney since 2019 and has been named by her peers on the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars list since 2018.
Catelyn began her career helping to obtain millions of dollars for the families of victims who contracted mesothelioma from working with asbestos-containing products. In her relatively young legal career, she has played an integral role in many significant verdicts and settlements, including a $1 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. unit, finding the company liable for a series of design and manufacturing defects with its Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants. The following year, Catelyn again joined the trial team for the fourth bellwether trial against J&J and DePuy, resulting in a $247 million plaintiff verdict, marking the third consecutive nine-figure verdict in the multidistrict litigation. She most recently served on the Leadership Development Committee of In Re: Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation (MDL 2924) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Catelyn also volunteers as a case reviewer for Pennsylvania’s Innocence Project and occasionally takes on pro bono matters for Philly VIP.
In her free time, Catelyn enjoys spending time with her husband and son, as well as hiking with her dog, reading and traveling.