Longtime Williams & Connolly attorney Paul Boehm has moved to Sidley Austin in Washington, D.C., to cohead Sidley's products liability and mass torts practice, amid growing demand in mass torts and products liability litigation practices. Boehm will cohead the practice alongside Heidi Levine and Jennifer Saulino, Sidley said Thursday. Boehm, who had been at Williams & Connolly for over two decades, had cochaired Williams & Connolly's FDA practice group and chaired the firm's continuing legal education committee. "He is very well-known to our partners, because he has been cocounsel in a number of our significant matters. He represents and has great relationships with many of our existing clients, and he is just a talented lawyer, so it was easy for us to identify and reach out to Paul," said Yvette Ostolaza, chair of Sidley's management committee, in an interview. Boehm's practice focuses on handling complex litigation on behalf of multinational corporations. His clients have included Merck & Co., CVS Health Corp., Alchemee and Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, according to court records. More Big Law firms, including Kirkland & Ellis, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, have been investing in their product liability and mass torts litigation teams as they take on more work in this specialized area. It comes amid a shift from commoditized products liability work in the practice to more high-stakes bet-the-company-type litigation, with a growing number and variety of cases emerging from ultra-processed foods, pharmaceuticals, herbicides and even gaming and social media applications, as Law.com has reported. "Products liability and mass tort matters are becoming more prevalent. The types of industries and companies who are now facing products liability and mass tort litigation is growing, and we're seeing that in a variety of different industries, and all the trends are pointing towards that becoming more common," said Boehm in an interview. Earlier this year, Sidley represented Kraft Heinz in securing a dismissal in a products liability action against 11 major food companies challenging the manufacturing and marketing of so-called "ultra-processed foods." It was the first personal injury suit of its kind in the United States, the firm said in a statement. Ostolaza said Sidley plans to further invest in products liability and mass torts, as it's an "area that our clients are growing in." Williams & Connolly did not immediately return a request for comment on Boehm's departure. Sidley said Boehm is the eighth new partner to join Sidley’s D.C. office this year, following Maura Rezendes, John Foote, Barbara Stettner, Molly Lovedale, Alana Genderson, Michael Hochman and Lisa Miller.