Michael Cypers is the Los Angeles Chair of the firm's Litigation Group. He's an experienced trial lawyer focusing on complex financial cases such as securities, corporate, partnership and fiduciary disputes, and class actions. He has practiced in Los Angeles nearly 30 years, and his practice is national in scope, with several international clients.
Michael's most recent trials involve investment and financing issues. In the Los Angeles Superior Court, he represented a private equity fund that rescinded investment contracts. At the conclusion of a hotly contested trial, the court affirmed the rescission and ordered that the fund be repaid its initial investment with interest and that it be relieved of all further obligations to finance the projects. It was named a "Top High Impact Verdict" in California for 2009 by the Los Angeles Daily Journal.
Michael has tried four financial statement cases to juries in California and Arizona on behalf of auditors, successfully. One was a seven-month class action trial alleging securities fraud, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy to commit fraud seeking $1 billion. The trial resulted in a defense verdict for the client.
In addition to his high-profile trial experience, Michael has extensive experience representing companies and individuals before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and he has been involved in a number of internal investigations on behalf of major corporate clients. He regularly counsels companies and boards on corporate governance and litigation exposure matters, and he frequently defends and counsels insurers on significant litigation risks.
Michael has for the past 12 years been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Berkeley Law School at the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall), where he currently teaches Corporate Governance and has taught Securities Litigation and Advanced Civil Litigation.
Michael has been named to the "Los Angeles Super Lawyers" list since 2007, and to the "The Best Lawyers in America" for the categories of Bet-the-Company Litigation and Commercial Litigation.
Recent experience:
· Won summary judgment for insurer establishing that its insured committed fraud in the application.
· Obtained dismissal of claims against leading audit firm for alleged violations of federal securities laws and conflict of interest.
· Defended major health insurer from regulatory action seeking to invalidate decisions it made on 800+ claims and require overhaul of claims practices.
· Defended consumer products company from claims of false advertising and unfair competition involving a nationwide class of consumers.
· Defended global banking institution in claims of fraud arising from Enron.
Publications
· "Bank and Financial Company Liability," ABA Business Litigation Committee Newsletter (Winter 2010-11). Author: Michael L. Cypers.
· "Using Declarations to Obtain or Defeat Class Certification," Los Angeles/San Francisco Daily Journal (May 27, 2010). Co-Authors: Michael L. Cypers and Jennifer S. Romano.
· "Attacking Class Certification Motions," Los Angeles Daily Journal (December 15, 2009). Co-Authors: Michael L. Cypers and Joshua Stokes.
· "The Future of Loss Causation," Review of Securities and Commodities Litigation (2004). Author: Michael L. Cypers.
· "Trial of an Accountant's Liability Case," Review of Securities and Commodities Litigation (2003). Author: Michael L. Cypers.
Alerts & Newsletters
· "Court of Appeals Rules That Grand Jury Subpoenas Trump Civil Protective Orders Covering Foreign Documents," White Collar Alert (December 9, 2010). Contacts: Stephen M. Byers, Michael L. Cypers, Janet Levine, Kelly T. Currie.
· "Ninth Circuit Addresses Medicare Preemption in New Uhm v. Humana Opinion," Health Law 'In The News' (September 1, 2010). Contacts: Arthur N. Lerner, Christopher Flynn, William C. O'Neill, Michael L. Cypers, Michelle A. Jones.
Speaking Engagements
· "Improve Your Results and Reduce Your Outside Counsel Costs," Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Multi-venue MCLE Program (March 2011). Speaker: Michael Cypers.
· "Investment Litigation Issues for Public Pension Systems," CALAPRS Attorney Roundtable, San Jose, California (January 2011). Presenters: Michael L. Cypers and Kathleen Balderrama.
· "Uncertainty as a Constant: Legal Trends in the U.S.A., Europe and Asia," Swiss Re 8th Conference for the Global Accounting Firms, Zurich (October 2010). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· "DOJ on Line One, WSJ on Line Two: How to Make the Right Calls in the Worst Case Scenario," Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter, August ACCess MCLE program (August 2010). Presenters: Kelly Currie, Michael Cypers, Janet Levine, Jeff Rutherford, Mark Troy and Katie Balderrama.
· "U.S. Financial Litigation: It is as Scary as it Seems?," 2nd European Financial Institutions Insurance Forum (May 2010). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· "Cutting Issues in Financial Institution Insurance," C5 London (2009). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· "The Current Financial Crisis," CS Financial Institution Conference, London (2008). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· "Trial of an Audit Liability Case," ALI-ABA Accountants' Liability Conference, San Diego (2008). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· "Working with Forensic Accountants on Financial Cases," California Society of Certified Public Accountants, Executive Board, San Francisco (2008). Presenters: Michael L. Cypers and Kathleen Balderrama.
· "Are US Style Class Actions Coming to Europe?" European D&O Forum, Cologne (2007). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· "US Financial Litigation Update," C5 D&O Liability Conference, London (2007). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· PLI Securities Litigation (2006). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· New York Bar Securities Litigation, Trial of a Class Action Case (2004). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.
· Swiss Re Conference for "Big Four" Public Accounting Firms, accountant liability issues, Zurich (2003 and 2004). Presenter: Michael L. Cypers.