Michael is a trial lawyer who also coordinates strategy for companies facing large litigation, including mass tort litigation. His practice focuses on complex product liability and commercial matters, including class actions, Multi-District Litigations (MDL), mass torts, and claims for unfair competition and false advertising under state consumer protection statutes. Michael's clients have included, among others, Becton Dickinson and Company (BD), C. R. Bard Inc., Medtronic, Inc., Pfizer Inc., Merck & Co. Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Inc. (GSK), and Abbott.
Michael currently serves as co-national coordinating and trial counsel for C. R. Bard in In re: Davol, Inc./C.R. Bard, Inc. Polypropylene Hernia Mesh Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2846 and In re Kugel Mesh Hernia Repair Patch Litigation (MDL1842), and he is co-national coordinating and trial counsel for Bard in the In re C. R. Bard Pelvic Mesh Repair Litigation. He was national coordinating and trial counsel for Pfizer in the In re Mirapex Product Liability Litigation. He represented Medtronic in the Infuse Bone Graft and Orthopedic Bone Screw litigations among others. He also was California trial counsel for GlaxoSmithKline in the Avandia litigation. He previously represented Merck in the Vioxx litigation and was a member of the national trial team for 3M in the Silicone Gel Breast Implantation Litigation. He was a faculty member at the IADC's Trial Academy at Stanford University in 2004.
Michael received the Best Lawyers™ Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions ‒ Defendants "Lawyer of the Year" award in Los Angeles in 2021, 2019, and 2017. He was named one of The Top 50 Litigators in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2018 and has been consistently named as one of the top mass tort product liability lawyers in the country by Chambers USA (Band 1 and Pharmaceutical Spotlight Table). He has been named to The Legal 500 Hall of Fame since 2017 and has also been named a Benchmark Litigation Star since 2017. In 2014, he was named a BTI Client Service All-Star, and was listed in the International Who's Who of Product Liability and Life Science Lawyers. For the last 10 years, he has been named a “Life Science Star” by LMG Life Sciences Guide, and from 2015-2017, he was named by LMG as finalist for Lawyer of the Year in Product Liability. Since 2014, Michael has been named by Best of the Best Guide as one of the top 30 product liability lawyers in the United States. In 2010, Law360 named Michael one of the "10 Most Admired Product Liability Attorneys.” In 2008, he received Reed Smith's Shaw's Lion Award, given annually to the firm's outstanding lawyer over the previous year.
In 2017, Chambers USA named Reed Smith the winner of Product Liability Law Firm of the Year and was on Chambers’ Short List for the same honor in 2018. In 2010, The American Lawyer named Reed Smith as the Litigation Department of the Year for Product Liability and in July 2014, Legal 500 named Reed Smith the Product Liability Defense Team of the Year. In 2015, The Recorder (an affiliate of The American Lawyer) named Reed Smith as the Litigation Department of the Year for Product Liability, LMG Life Science Guide and The American Lawyer named Reed Smith a Finalist for Product Liability Firm of the Year and BTI Consulting named Reed Smith one of four “Product Liability Standouts.”
Michael has testified more than a dozen times before legislative and other committees concerning proposed legislation involving protective orders and confidential settlement agreements, summary judgments, unfair competition statutes, electronic discovery, and other issues. He has worked with a coalition of businesses to oppose bills that would have eroded protection for confidential and proprietary information as well as bills that would have given prosecutors and private plaintiffs a "disgorgement of profits" remedy in cases involving California Business and Professions Code sections 17200 et al, and he was a member of the Civil Justice Working Group providing assistance to then-governor-elect Schwarzenegger's transition team. He was also actively involved in working on reform efforts involving section 17200, particularly Proposition 64, which was enacted by California voters.