Overview
Chan McLeod focuses his practice on managing litigation and providing guidance and counsel to corporations and associations on a variety of issues arising from legal matters. He has extensive experience defending product liability, premises liability, toxic tort, and mass tort cases for his clients.
Chan manages litigation on both the national and local levels and has defended complex liability cases in federal and state courts across the country. He has served as trial counsel for litigation involving benzene, gasoline, and solvent litigation; he was instrumental in developing the litigation strategy that led to the dismissal and summary judgment grants for thousands of personal injury claims arising from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Chan has served as national coordinating counsel for asbestos companies handling national litigation strategy, overseeing the administration of local counsel litigation activities, and directing case resolution efforts in jurisdictions nationwide. He has experience defending claims related to crude oil spills, dioxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and wood treatment chemicals.
Chan is adept at establishing defenses based on medical and scientific issues, including medical causation, disease process, and epidemiology. He is experienced in the preparation of experts for deposition and trial. Chan has successfully drafted Daubert motions resulting in the exclusion of experts and the granting of summary judgment in complex mass tort litigation.
Education
- University of Mississippi School of Law, Juris Doctor, 2003, magna cum laude
Tom B. Scott Memorial Scholarship Recipient - Millsaps College, Bachelor of Arts, 1995, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Admissions
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Pennsylvania
- U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit
- U.S. District Court Southern District of Mississippi
- U.S. District Court Northern District of Mississippi
- U.S. District Court Western District of Louisiana
- U.S. District Court Middle District of Louisiana
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Louisiana
Experience
- Established toxic tort causation standard for Deepwater Horizon oil spill personal injury litigation through Daubert motions to exclude experts and summary judgment motions for lack of causation and affirmed in Fifth Circuit and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal
- Prevailed in hundreds of Daubert motions striking unreliable expert testimony on scientific and medical causation issues in mass environmental disaster, resulting in the dismissal of those lawsuits and affirmed on appeal
- Defended an international oil company against thousands of personal injury lawsuits resulting from oil spill and obtained thousands of dismissals
- National Coordinating Counsel for Fortune 500 companies defending claims in asbestos litigation
- As National Coordinating Counsel, implemented defense program and strategies for asbestos defendants for asbestos litigation across the United States
Publications & Presentations
Distinctions
- Martindale-Hubbell® Preeminent AV™ Peer Review Rated
- Named to The Best Lawyers in America® since 2023 for Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions – Defendants
- Named to The Best Lawyers in America® since 2021 for Personal Liability Litigation – Defendants
- Named to The Best Lawyers in America® since 2020 for Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
- Named to the Mid-South Super Lawyers® list as seen in the Mid-South Super Lawyers magazine (2014 – 2020.)
- Named to the Top 50: 2016 Mississippi Super Lawyers® list as seen in the Mid-South Super Lawyers magazine (2006).
- He was named to Mid-South Rising Stars® as seen in the Mid-South Super Lawyers magazine (2012 – 2013).
- Tom B. Scott Memorial Scholarship
- 2017 Leaders in Law by the Mississippi Business Journal
Associations
- Mississippi Bar Association
- Capital Area Bar Association
- International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC)
- Defense Research Institute (DRI)
- Defense Research Institute (DRI): Toxic and Hazardous Substances Committee
Civic Involvement
- President and Board Member, Country Club of Jackson Board of Governors
- Board Member, Jackson Preparatory School Board of Trustees
- Century Club Charities Sustaining Member
- First Tee of Mississippi
Outside the Office
Chan is a golfer and lover of golf course architecture. He loves to travel to golf courses all over the world to play and enjoy the golf courses. His fervent hope is that one day somebody will give him the chance to design his own golf course. Chan is also an avid sports fan who still enjoys supporting his local team.