PHILADELPHIA — Cozen O’Connor has announced that member Ann Thornton Field has been named chair of the firm’s general litigation department.  Field succeeds Lawrence T. Bowman, who will step down to handle training operations as chair of the Professional Training and CLE Committee.

Currently the chair of the commercial litigation practice group and a member of the firm’s management committee, Field’s practice is focused on commercial litigation, aviation and products liability matters.  She has been lead counsel for numerous matters in state and federal courts throughout the United States, and has been involved with the defense of death claims arising from the bombing and crash of Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland, the defense of claims arising from the U.S. Navy experimental V-22 Osprey Tilt Rotor Aircraft, the 1996 ValuJet accident and the 1996 TWA 800 accident.

Field’s commercial litigation practice includes representation of corporations in contract litigation both as plaintiff and defense counsel.  Her aviation practice has covered the full scope of the aviation industry, including aviation insurers, aircraft and component part manufacturers, fixed base operators, airlines, municipal airport owners and operators, industrial aircraft owners and the estates of persons injured in aircraft accidents.

Field is admitted to practice before the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, the Middle District of Georgia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of Georgia.  She is a member of the aviation litigation committee of the litigation section of the American Bar Association; the aviation and space law committee of the tort insurance practice section of the American Bar Association, of which she is a vice chair; the aviation section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association; and the Philadelphia Bar Association’s section on aviation, of which she is former chair.

Field is a board member of the Arts & Business Council of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and a former board member of the Literacy Action Project.  She is vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania.

A resident of Berwyn, Pa., Field received her undergraduate degree from Samford University (B.A., cum laude, 1977) and her law degree from the University of Houston Law Center (J.D., 1984).

Founded in 1970, Cozen O’Connor is ranked among the 100 largest law firms in the United States, serving business, insurance and private clients.  Cozen O’Connor is a full-service firm with 500 in 21 offices across the United States and international offices in London and Toronto.