Sarah Ruane is a partner at Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP in Kansas City and Chair of the firm’s Litigation Management Committee. She has been elected a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary distinction reserved for one percent of lawyers admitted in the United States and its territories, recognizing outstanding leadership in the profession and service to society.

Sarah has served as trial counsel — including lead counsel — in ten jury trials in federal and state court, the great majority of them involving pharmaceutical products, medical devices, and health care services. As Chair of the Litigation Management Committee, she assigns and manages attorney and staff teams across the firm’s national mass tort and class action docket, ensuring efficient and optimal performance for every client the firm serves.

Sarah’s practice has been shaped by years of work alongside Tom Cartmell, who has served as plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel and co-lead trial counsel in several large multidistrict litigations that resolved successfully. Much of Sarah’s MDL experience was built in the national Pelvic Mesh Repair System Products Liability Litigation, spanning In Re: C.R. Bard, Inc. (MDL No. 2187), In Re: American Medical Systems, Inc. (MDL No. 2325), In Re: Boston Scientific Corp. (MDL No. 2326), and In Re: Ethicon, Inc. (MDL No. 2327). Across those cases she contributed to general causation expert reports, briefed and argued Daubert motions, defended case-specific depositions, and deposed physician, sales representative, and expert witnesses. She also second-chaired the first — and only — pelvic mesh jury trial against defendant Coloplast, which resulted in a $2.5 million verdict for the plaintiff.

In the National Opioid MDL No. 2804, Sarah helped construct the liability case against the Teva defendants, handling all aspects of discovery from ESI negotiation and document review through corporate depositions. She also served as counsel to Buchanan County, Missouri, which experienced one of the highest rates of opioid prescriptions in the country.

Sarah has spent her entire career at Wagstaff & Cartmell, which has grown during her tenure to 34 attorneys and 52 additional employees. The firm handles complex litigation nationwide in product liability, consumer fraud, class actions, antitrust, corporate malfeasance, professional liability, and the representation of public entities.

Sarah currently serves on the District of Kansas Bench-Bar Committee, working alongside six sitting federal judges to study and recommend changes to the court’s rules and serving as a liaison among the court, the bar, and the public. She has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers Association of Kansas City – Young Lawyers Section and Lawyers Encouraging Academic Performance. She speaks frequently at seminars focused on trial advocacy.

Sarah received her undergraduate degree in Spanish and Sociology from Wake Forest University in 2003 and her law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2006.