News

McAfee & Taft, the state’s largest law firm, has announced the expansion of its litigation practice and Tulsa office with the addition of trial lawyers Sherry A. Rozell, Steven E. Ward, and Valerie L. Dixon. All three are Missouri natives who join the firm from Turner, Reid, Duncan, Loomer & Patton PC of Springfield, MO.

Shareholder Sherry Rozell is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer and legal strategist whose practice is concentrated in the areas of products liability defense, mass torts litigation, and class actions. She is also widely regarded for her expertise in matters involving complex Federal Rules of Civil Procedure issues in federal courts nationwide.

Over her more than 30 years in practice, Rozell has served as a trusted legal advisor to major automotive manufacturers, including Ford Motor Company, representing the top 10 Fortune 500 company in discovery, trial and appellate matters in numerous state and federal courts across the United States in defense against a broad range of tort claims. She holds the distinction of serving as both national discovery counsel and national appellate counsel for the automaker and serving as a national advisor on appellate strategy. Rozell’s achievements as a trial lawyer have earned her inclusion in Missouri Super Lawyers.

Rozell graduated magna cum laude with her bachelor’s degree from Drury University and her Juris Doctor from Washington University. She is a member of the Defense Research Institute, Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers, Missouri Bar Association, Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, and American Bar Association.

She is also a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation and fellow and former trustee of the Missouri Bar Foundation.

Steve Ward‘s practice is concentrated on representing leading manufacturers and distributors of consumer and commercial products in the areas of products liability defense and other tort litigation. For much of his career, he has served as trial counsel for two of the nation’s leading automakers in litigation involving claims of personal injury and wrongful death. In addition, he has served as lead trial counsel in cases arising from alleged asbestos exposure from automotive products, and has represented industrial and manufacturing companies in mass torts litigation resulting from exposures to workers during the manufacturing process.

Ward earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and his B.S. Ed. from Missouri State University. He is a member of the Defense Research Institute, International Association of Defense Lawyers, Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers, Missouri Bar Association, Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, and American Bar Association.

Associate Valerie Dixon‘s encompasses the areas of product liability defense, insurance defense, medical malpractice and general civil litigation. Her primary focus is discovery, serving as part of the national discovery team for product liability cases for Ford Motor Company.

Dixon is a three-time graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia. She graduated magna cum laude with her bachelor’s degree in business administration, with an emphasis in marketing, in 2008 before going on to earn her Masters of Business Administration in 2010 and her Juris Doctor in 2013.

With more than 170 attorneys and offices in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, McAfee & Taft is one of the nation’s 250 largest law firms as ranked by the National Law Journal.