Michael is a Member in the firm's Boston office and practices in the Litigation Section and the White Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group. He is the Chairman of the firm's Privacy Litigation Group. Michael specializes in complex civil and criminal litigation and class actions, representing Fortune 100 corporations and financial institutions in courts across the country. Some of his most recent cases include the following: · Michael litigated one of the largest bankruptcy proceedings ever brought in the District of Massachusetts involving claims owed on International Place, the premier office tower in Boston. Michael's client was a secured creditor and is the largest office tower owner and developer in the United States. At the close of Michael's presentation of evidence in the trial, the debtor agreed to pay Michael's client $679,000,000.00, allowing the client to realize a return of more than double its cash investment in less than 10 months. See, In re Fort Hill Square Associates, United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Massachusetts, Docket Nos. 04-13855, 04-13857. · Representing over 100 chain and independent pharmacies, following a bench trial Michael obtained a judgment from the Massachusetts Business Court overturning the state's pharmacy assessment tax and ordering the Commonwealth to refund $18 million in taxes collected from the pharmacies. The Court enjoined any further collection of the tax, resulting in a savings to Michael's clients of over $36 million annually. See, Allen's Pharmacy Cape Ann, et al. v. Ferguson, Massachusetts Business Court Civil Action No. 03-1913 (June 2, 2003). This case and another matter also handled by Mintz Levin lawyers were reported by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as the two largest trial verdicts awarded in Massachusetts in 2003. · Michael represented a Fortune 50 company under investigation by the federal government and 24 state Attorneys General for alleged violations of the False Claims Act regarding drug pricing matters. Despite two years of grand jury proceedings, Michael persuaded the government agencies not to pursue any criminal charges and subsequently negotiated a favorable civil settlement. · Michael represented the CFO of a high tech company for alleged unlawful backdating of stock options for hundreds of employees. Notwithstanding comments in the media by one of the nation's most respected securities law professors that the case presented "the clearest instance of criminal scienter he had ever seen," Michael persuaded the federal government not to bring a criminal action against his client. Michael then negotiated a settlement with the SEC of all claims, without any admission of guilt by the client. · Michael represented a CEO of a Fortune 50 company in a federal political corruption investigation. While other officers of the company were indicted (and subsequently acquitted), no charges were ever brought against Michael's client. · After a six-week trial in the Federal Court of Claims in Washington, D.C., Michael won a verdict for $8.8 million against the United States, the largest verdict for lost profits damages for a new venture ever awarded against the Government. See, Energy Capital Partners v. United States, 47 Fed. Cl. 382, affirmed 302 F.2d 1314. · Representing a multibillion dollar grocery chain and its president, Michael won a verdict of dismissal following a trial in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts in a case alleging violations of ERISA by Michael's clients. See, Evanthea Demoulas v. Sullivan. · In a first-of-its-kind privacy class action lawsuit brought in New York seeking $100 million in damages, Michael won a trial verdict dismissing all claims against his client, a Fortune 100 company. See, Anonymous v. Hinderstein, et al., (NY Sup. Ct. Index No. 604804/99). Michael was lead defense counsel on two other major privacy class action lawsuits where he obtained dismissal of all class actions claims. · Representing the nation's largest hospital chain, Michael along with co-counsel successfully defeated an effort to enjoin the client's $33 billion leveraged buyout, the second largest LBO in American history. See, Foundation for Seacoast Health v. Hospital Corporation of America, N.H. Sup. Ct., Rockingham CO., Docket No. 06-E-583. · Representing the nation's largest laboratory testing corporation and its Board of Directors, Michael won a complete dismissal of a shareholder derivative action seeking over $300 million in damages. See, Stern v. Baldwin, N.J. Chancery Court, Docket No. MRS-C-88-09. · Michael won a judgment of dismissal at the close of plaintiff's evidence in the trial of an eight-figure accounting malpractice claim brought against a Big Five accounting firm. · After being retained to represent one of the nation's largest health care providers who had received a criminal target letter from the United States Attorney's Office, Michael was able to persuade the Government to drop the case entirely against his client. · Michael represented a multinational insurance company in a dispute litigated in the U.S. District Court in Indiana. Plaintiff, another major insurance company, asserted that Michael's client had breached the terms of an acquisition by improperly underwriting over a billion dollars of placed insurance. Following nationwide discovery, plaintiff settled for a small fraction of its claimed losses. · Michael represented the plaintiff, a major real estate company, in the first and only case in the history of Massachusetts to succeed in overturning an eminent domain taking on the ground of municipal bad faith. See, Pheasant Ridge Ltd. Partnership v. Town of Burlington, 399 Mass. 771, 506 N.E. 2d 1152. · Representing a business corporation against a national bank in a jury trial in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, immediately following the commencement of Michael's cross-examination of the bank's chief witness, the bank quadrupled its settlement offer and the case resolved. · Representing one of the largest cable companies in the United States, Michael succeeded in negotiating a favorable settlement of false advertising and unfair and deceptive business practices claims asserted by the Massachusetts Attorney General. · Michael wrote the amicus brief on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other prominent organizations in Zivotofsky v. Hillary Rodham Clinton, pending before the United States Supreme Court. · Following a trial in the Immigration Court, Michael obtained an award of asylum for his pro bono client, a refugee from the Rwandan genocide. · Michael represented a Ghana family pro bono in obtaining over $1.85 million from the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund. · Michael served as counsel to one of the nation's largest private universities, advising on governance issues and a major restructuring of the Board. In addition to his full litigation practice, Michael also serves as General Counsel to the firm. In every year that the designation has been available, Michael has been recognized by his peers as a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in a listing published as a special supplement to Boston Magazine. Admissions Michael is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He is a member of the American, Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations. Education Michael received his B.S. from Cornell University and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was named to the Order of the Coif. Industries · Life Sciences · Professional Services · Real Estate · Health Care |