Ms. Cunningham’s litigation and risk management practice focuses on product liability, toxic tort and environmental litigation, food contamination claims, and wrongful death and personal injury defense, including mass torts, class actions and multidistrict litigation.

Ms. Cunningham is head of the firm’s litigation team. She represents major corporate clients in all aspects of product liability, mass tort and toxic tort and environmental litigation, including successfully defending catastrophic injury and death claims; asbestos, benzene, formaldehyde, hydrogen sulfide, solvent and silica-related premises and product liability claims; large-scale environmental toxin and exposure claims, involving PFAS, PAHs, fluorides, coal combustion residuals and hexavalent chromium; and claims of bacterial contamination in food and beverage products. Ms. Cunningham also advises clients on legal issues related to COVID-19, including potential claims risk and mitigation, wrongful death, personal injury and nuisance claims defense strategies, and is actively defending companies in COVID-19 litigation. She also represents clients in general product liability and commercial litigation.

Ms. Cunningham is admitted to practice in Virginia, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and before the federal courts in those jurisdictions and many others. She has appeared as trial counsel in state and federal courts around the country, and has led appeals to the Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia and United States Supreme Courts. Ms. Cunningham has also led arbitrations before the International Chamber of Commerce and American Arbitration Association.

Bar Admissions

Education
JD, Emory University School of Law, with high honors, Managing Editor, Emory Law Journal, Elected to Order of the Coif, 1999

BA, Psychology, University of Virginia, 1996

• National Coordinating Counsel, national regional counsel, trial counsel and local counsel for Fortune 500 companies in mass tort and toxic exposure litigation.
• Member of strategic national trial team for Fortune 500 Company.
• Provides strategic pre-market litigation risk analysis for product manufacturers, including guidance on potential risks of product or manufacturing changes, regulatory compliance, investigations, litigation avoidance, and risk management advice for product failure, crises or catastrophic events.
• Trial counsel in consolidated trial of 1300 asbestos claims - the largest asbestos trial in Virginia history.
• Argued successful motion to dismiss on lack of legal duty in first "take home" asbestos exposure case filed in Arizona state court.
• Tried jury trial in federal court in Illinois involving dispute over allocation of environmental liabilities under Asset Purchase Agreement.  Case settled on favorable terms before verdict.
• Argued before Supreme Court of Virginia.
• Argued successful plea in bar in Newport News Circuit Court on novel issue of Virginia law resulting in dismissal with prejudice of multi-million dollar asbestos wrongful death claim.
• Obtained summary judgment in a multi-million dollar premises liability/negligence action in federal district court.
• Represented major insurance company in unfair trade practices class action lawsuit.
• Primary drafter of Virginia Supreme Court pleadings and Petition for Writ of Certiorari filed in the United States Supreme Court challenging mass consolidation of asbestos cases.
• Represented Virginia Child Support Enforcement Division as pro bono trial counsel in dozens of child support enforcement trials.

• Leadership Metro Richmond, Class of 2017
• Member, American, Virginia and Georgia Bar Associations
• Member, Defense Research Institute
• Board of Directors, YMCA of Greater Richmond
• Board of Directors, Virginia Early Childhood Foundation
• General Counsel, Virginia Association of Independent Schools
• Adjunct Faculty Member, University of Richmond School of Law, teaching “Appellate Advocacy”
• Managing Partner, Hunton & Williams – Charlottesville Pro Bono Office

• “Rising Star” in Civil Litigation Defense, Virginia Super Lawyers (2008, 2009, 2011–2014). A description of the selection methodology can be found on Super Lawyers’ webpage.
• “Best Lawyers”, Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions, The Best Lawyers in America, 22nd and 23rd Edition (2016-2017). A description of the selection methodology can be found on Best Lawyers’ webpage.
• “Top Peer Nominated Lawyer,” Women in the Law, Best Lawyers (2016 and 2017). A description of the selection methodology can be found on Best Lawyers’ webpage.
• E. Randolph Williams Pro Bono Award

• EPA Warns Against Potentially False and Misleading COVID-19 Disinfectant Claims

  By Alexandra Cunningham |June 2020

• Formaldehyde Status Increases Litigation Risk, Risk Management
• Businesses Are Not Experiencing the Wave of COVID-19 Exposure Lawsuits Initially Predicted, Retail Industry 2021 Year in Review
• Unpredictability of TSCA chemical risk evaluation process increases litigation risk for companies, Thomson Reuters
• Causation and the Use of Experts in Toxic Tort Cases, chapter in Toxic Tort Litigation, ABA
• Litigation forecast for PFAS-containing consumer products, Thomson Reuters Westlaw
• Mitigating Risks of Consent-by-Registration Personal Jurisdiction, Bloomberg Law
• Out with the Old, in with the New: What to Expect in Asbestos Litigation in 2018, Westlaw Journal Asbestos
• COVID-19 Pushes Demand for Surface Disinfectants to Fever Pitch, Raising Regulatory and Litigation Risk, Thomson Reuters Westlaw
• TSCA Regulatory Action Raises Retailers’ Litigation Risk, Law360
• Expert Analysis: 4 Personal Jurisdiction Questions Defendants Should Ask, Law360
• Pennsylvania Court poised to address constitutionality of state’s consent-by-registration statute, Thomson Reuters Westlaw
• CPSC’s Aggressive Enforcement in 2021 Signals Increased Regulatory and Product Liability Risk for Retail Industry, Retail Industry 2021 Year in Review
• 2022 Litigation Trends for PFAS-Containing Consumer Products and 2023 Preview, Retail Industry 2022 Year in Review
• Current litigation trends for PFAS-containing consumer products, Westlaw Today
• Sellers Beware: Recent String of Court Decisions Pose New Risks for Digital Marketplaces, Retail Industry 2022 Year in Review
• 5 Ways Retailers Can Mitigate Product Liability Litigation Risk, Law360
• 2019 Retail Industry Year in Review
• 2020 Retail Industry Year in Review
• 2023 Retail Industry Year in Review
• National Flammability Standard for Upholstered Furniture to Take Effect in June 2021, The National Law Review
• Key Lessons From Peloton’s Tread+ Recall, Risk Management Magazine