Stephanie A. Scharf is a partner with Schoeman Updike & Kaufman LLP, a majority women-owned defense firm with offices in New York and Chicago.  Mrs. Scharf concentrates her practice on complex litigation.  She has represented clients on a range of matters concerning the development, manufacture and marketing of complex scientific products including defense of product liability and mass tort litigation; national and international supply disputes; representation of corporation over insurance disputes and indemnity agreements; class actions. She has counseled extensively on procedures for enterprise risk assessment, product liability risk management and compliance.  She has been national coordinating counsel, regional counsel and a member of several "virtual firms" created to address specific client problems. Mrs. Scharf has tried multiple cases in federal and state courts in Illinois, California and Washington and was listed in the March/April 2004 issue of Diversity & the Bar as one of 21 U.S. "Women Litigators on the Rise." In 2006, she was named by Lawdragon as one of the 500 leading litigators in America.   Scharf is AV Peer Review Rated, Martindale-Hubbell’s highest peer recognition for ethical standards and legal ability, and has been elected by her peers as an Illinois Super Lawyer in the areas of class action/mass torts, civil litigation defense and personal injury (products) defense.

Mrs. Scharf is a former President of NAWL.   She was the founding Chair of the NAWL Committee for the Evaluation of Supreme Court Nominees and is currently Chair of the NAWL Survey Committee.  She also co-chairs the American Bar Association's Products Liability Committee (Section of Litigation) and is a member of the ABA's Special Committee on Bioethics and the Law. She is a Sustaining Member of the Product Liability Advisory Council and member of the PLAC Case Selection Committee. She is also a Board Member of the Illinois Bar Foundation.

Mrs. Scharf received a Ph.D. (Behavioral Sciences/Psychology) and J.D. from the University of Chicago. Before practicing law, she was a University Harper Fellow and Senior Study Director, NORC, where she helped design and manage large-scale public health surveys commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She received a B.A. from Rutgers University and an M.A. in Communications from Stanford University.

Stephanie A. Scharf

Schoeman Updike & Kaufman
333 West Wacker Drive, Suite 300
Chicago, IL 60606
SScharf@schoeman.com