Author: Bailey Glasser

Samira Z. Bode Elevated to Partner

Ms. Bode is a member of Bailey Glasser’s nationally recognized and ranked Mass Torts Practice Group, where she focuses her practice on representing former minors abused in juvenile hall facilities. This is challenging work which she approaches with immense tenacity and deep compassion.

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Bailey & Glasser, LLP is proud to announce that litigator Samira Z. Bode has been elevated to partner.

Ms. Bode is a member of Bailey Glasser’s nationally recognized and ranked Mass Torts Practice Group, where she focuses her practice on representing former minors abused in juvenile hall facilities in Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. This is challenging work which she approaches with not only immense tenacity, but deep compassion.

Samira also represented servicemembers in the 3M Combat Arms Earplugs litigation, the largest multi-district litigation in history which settled in 2023 for $6 billion. Additionally, Samira’s experience includes litigating mass tort cases injured by defective medical devices and dangerous pharmaceutical drugs.

Ms. Bode’s important work was recognized by Lawdragon when it named her a 2025 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation in the mass tort and product liability category, and she has been included in the Super Lawyers list in Illinois since 2024. Bailey Glasser’s Mass Torts Practice Group is nationally ranked by Chambers & Partners in the nationwide Product Liability: Plaintiffs category and by Best Law Firms® on the top National Tier in the Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Plaintiffs. Ms. Bode is located in our firm’s Maryville, Illinois office.

A joint statement issued by Contingency Practice Area Leader Jonathan R. Marshall, Mass Torts Practice Group Leader David L. Selby II, and partner D. Todd Mathews states:

We warmly welcome Samira Z. Bode to our partner ranks at Bailey & Glasser, LLP. She has proven time and time again that she will fight to protect and find justice for our clients, no matter if she is facing a multinational corporate conglomerate or the legal arm of an entire state. To that end, her elevation to partner is well-deserved and we congratulate her on this career milestone.

Learn more about the firm’s fight to find justice for victims of abuse in Maryland juvenile hall facilities at this link.

Partner Josh Hammack Quoted by Reuters in Supreme Court VPPA Article

“The VPPA is a throwback to an era when a trip to Blockbuster to rent ‘Dirty Dancing’ or ‘Die Hard’ was (in the vernacular of the day) totally rad.”

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Bailey Glasser partner Joshua I. Hammack was quoted by Reuters in a commentary piece by journalist Jenna Greene about the Supreme Court’s granting certiorari in Salazar v. Paramount Global, our hotly litigated case about the meaning of “consumer” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

As described in the article, the VPPA is “a throwback to an era when a trip to Blockbuster to rent ‘Dirty Dancing’ or ‘Die Hard’ was (in the vernacular of the day) totally rad. But the implications of the dispute are anything but retro.”

The VPPA was enacted in 1988 after a local D.C. video store disclosed the rental records of Judge Robert Bork—then under consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court—to a journalist. The law broadly prohibits a video tape service provider from knowingly disclosing a consumer’s personally identifiable information without first obtaining that consumer’s consent. As most relevant here, the VPPA defines “consumer” to include a “subscriber of goods or services from a video tape service provider.”

In this case, Paramount disclosed Mr. Salazar’s Facebook ID (a unique numerical identifier Facebook assigns to each user) and video-watching history to Facebook without his consent. Mr. Salazar sued, alleging Paramount’s conduct violated the VPPA. But both lower courts held Mr. Salazar was not a statutory “consumer” because he subscribed only to Paramount’s online newsletter, and not to its audiovisual goods or services. As a result, both lower courts dismissed his VPPA claim. Now, the Supreme Court will decide whether Mr. Salazar’s case can move forward.

Bailey Glasser’s appellate team has been litigating this question across the country for years, including Hammack arguing the issue to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Sixth, and D.C. Circuits. The case now before the Supreme Court will have significant implications for how streaming services and other platforms handle user data, and it will almost certainly affect the privacy rights of millions of Americans consumers.

For more details and to read the full Reuters article, visit this link.

Supreme Court to Hear BG Appeal in VPPA Case

Partners Joshua I. Hammack and Michael L. Murphy have been litigating these cases for years on behalf of consumer privacy.

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The Supreme Court of the United States has granted certiorari in Salazar v. Paramount Global, a hotly litigated case about the meaning of “consumer” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).

Partner Joshua I. Hammack led the appellate team, with valuable assistance from Michael L. Murphy, Nicholas S. Johnson, Allison A. Bruff, and Hallie H. Arena, as well as paralegal support from Manny Rios. The matter will now proceed to merits briefing and argument before the Supreme Court.

The VPPA was enacted in 1988, shortly after a local D.C. video store disclosed the rental records of Judge Robert Bork—who was then under consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court—to a journalist. The law broadly prohibits a video tape service provider from knowingly disclosing a consumer’s personally identifiable information without first obtaining that consumer’s consent. As most relevant here, the VPPA defines “consumer” to include a “subscriber of goods or services from a video tape service provider.”

In this case, Paramount disclosed Mr. Salazar’s Facebook ID (a unique numerical identifier Facebook assigns to each user) and video-watching history to Facebook without his consent. Mr. Salazar sued, alleging Paramount’s conduct violated the VPPA. But both lower courts held Mr. Salazar was not a statutory “consumer” because he subscribed only to Paramount’s online newsletter, and not to its audiovisual goods or services. As a result, both lower courts dismissed his VPPA claim.

Read more here.

Wesline Manuelpillai Joins BG’s Washington, D.C. Office

Bailey Glasser warmly welcomes trial lawyer Wesline Manuelpillai to our national Commercial & Environmental Litigation Practice Group.

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Bailey Glasser warmly welcomes trial lawyer Wesline Manuelpillai to our national Commercial & Environmental Litigation Practice Group. Wesline joins the firm’s Washington, D.C. office where she will be working alongside Chambers-ranked Practice Group Leader Cary Joshi and in an office that is Band 1 ranked by Chambers & Partners for its plaintiff-side work as well as top-ranked in commercial litigation and bet-the-company litigation by Best Law Firms®.

Prior to joining Bailey Glasser, Wesline served as a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch, where she litigated multi-defendant enforcement actions under federal consumer protection statutes, including the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act. In that role, she zealously advocated on behalf of American consumers in high stakes matters, both in and out of the courtroom, against opposing counsel from the nation’s leading law firms.

“Wesline’s deep experience in the complex litigation arena will be a major asset to our clients,” said Cary Joshi, Practice Group Leader. “We warmly welcome her to our D.C. office and look forward to having her bring her sharp mind, love of litigation, and trial tenacity to our cases.”

Katherine Charonko Named Winner of the Monica Bay Women of Legal Tech Award

Kate will be honored at the sixth annual Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards and Dinner on Monday, March 9, 2026, during the Legalweek 2026 conference in New York.

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Katherine E. Charonko, Bailey & Glasser, LLP’s Electronically Stored Information & Technology Practice Group Leader, has been named a winner of the Monica Bay Women of Legal Tech Award, an award given by ALM / LegalTech News. Ms. Charonko is a litigator whose work directly creates life-changing results for people harmed by dangerous products in some of the largest product liability and mass tort cases in the country.

Named after the former editor-in-chief of Legaltech News, the Monica Bay Award honors women at law firms, legal departments, and legal technology or legal service companies who have achieved notable successes and made significant contributions to legal innovation. Kate will be honored at the sixth annual Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards and Dinner on Monday, March 9, 2026, during the Legalweek 2026 conference in New York.

Ms. Charonko plays a central role in many of Bailey Glasser’s most consequential matters, including on litigation teams taking on the world’s most powerful corporations, such as Johnson & Johnson, 3M, Volkswagen, Toyota, Bayer/Monsanto, and major medical device manufacturers. Her assistance is routinely sought by national trial teams, strengthened by her and Bailey Glasser’s strong reputation and her global Certified E-Discovery Specialist (CEDS) credential. Ms. Charonko has been appointed to numerous MDL leadership roles, serving as liaison director of e-Discovery and ESI, directing the management and review of billions of documents across multiple parties and jurisdictions. Across every dimension of her work, Ms. Charonko stands out for her technical brilliance and unwavering commitment to the people she and Bailey Glasser serve.

Ms. Charonko leads, speaks, and writes on cutting-edge topics, including being a member of the Sedona Conference and Women En Masse, and recently spoke at the November 2025 Trial Lawyers of Mass Torts Summit (including its Women’s Summit). She recently published “From Code to Canvas: the Intellectual Property Debate in Generative AI Creations,” as a guest columnist in the Daily Journal on November 3, 2025.