Michael Buchman leads Motley Rice’s antitrust team. Prior to joining Motley Rice, Michael served as an Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Antitrust Bureau. He also served as a co-managing partner of the antitrust department at a large New York-based class action law firm.
Michael has served as lead or co-lead counsel for a variety of plaintiff clients, including a Fortune 500 company, a foreign government, multiple states, a city and individual consumers in complex antitrust cases concerning restraint of trade, price-fixing, monopolization and other anticompetitive conduct. His more than 25 years of antitrust experience includes playing an active role in some of the largest antitrust class actions in the history of the Sherman Act, including In re NASDAQ Market-Makers Antitrust Litigation ($1.027b settlement)*. Michael represented the largest retailer class representative in the $5.5 billion* In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL 1720.* Over the past 20 years, he has been a leader investigating and developing generic drug antitrust class actions.
He has consistently litigated these cases over the past two decades for self-insured health insurers, consumers, and governmental entities who are the intended victims of such anticompetitive schemes. Michael is one of a limited group of plaintiffs’ antitrust class action lawyers who has served as lead trial counsel and tried a generic drug antitrust case. He has twice been selected as a co-chair of HarrisMartin’s Antitrust Pay-For-Delay Litigation Conference (2014-2015). Some of the generic drug antitrust class actions he has been involved with include:
MOTLEY RICE CASES:
In re Loestrin Antitrust Litigation ($62.5 million settlement in 2020)*
In re Aggrenox Antitrust Litigation ($54 million settlement in 2018)*
In re Solodyn Antitrust Litigation ($43 million settlement in 2018)*
PRIOR TO MOTLEY RICE:
In re Wellbutrin SR Antitrust Litigation ($21.5million settlement in 2013)*
In re Flonase Antitrust Litigation ($46 million settlement in 2012)*
In re Metoprolol Succinate End-Payor Antitrust Litigation ($21 million settlement in 2011)*
In re Relafen Antitrust Litigation ($75 million settlement in 2004)*
In re Augmentin Antitrust Litigation ($29 million settlement in 2004)*
In re Buspirone Antitrust Litigation ($90 million settlement in 2003)*
Additional cases he’s actively involved in at Motley Rice include In re Actos Antitrust Litigation, In re Effexor Antitrust Litigation, In re Lipitor Antitrust Litigation, In re Niaspan Antitrust Litigation, In re Suboxone Antitrust Litigation, and In re Zetia Antitrust Litigation.
He also has experience litigating aviation matters, including a large antitrust dispute between carriers.
Michael completed the intensive two-week National Institute for Trial Advocacy National Trial Training program in Boulder, Colo., in 2002. An avid writer, he has authored and co-authored articles on procedure and competition law, including a Task Force on Dealer Terminations for The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Committee on Antitrust and Trade Regulation, entitled Dealer Termination in New York dated June 1, 1998 and What's in a Name - the Diversity Death-Knell for Underwriters of Lloyd's of London and their Names; Humm v. Lombard World Trade, Inc., Vol. 4, Issue 10 International Insurance Law Review 314 (1996).
Michael has been active in his communities having served as a member of the Flood and Erosion Committee for the Town of Westport, Ct., and presently serves as pro bono counsel in actions involving the misappropriation of perpetual care monies. He has also coached youth ice hockey teams at Chelsea Piers in New York City.
* Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Awards, Accolades & Recognitions
Best Lawyers
New York, NY
2017-2026 Mass tort litigation/class actions - plaintiffs
Super Lawyers
2014-2022 New York Metro Super Lawyers list - Antitrust
Lawdragon
2019-2025 Lawdragon 500 Plaintiff Financial Lawyers
Antitrust & Competition Law
Blog Posts
September 2, 2016
The 400 Percent Question: Why so few generic alternatives to Mylan’s EpiPen? Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Michael M. Buchman
December 16, 2014
Pleading antitrust injury in the absence of FDA approval of a drug Causes, Not Just Cases
by: Michael M. Buchman
News
May 6, 2025
Jazz Pharmaceuticals Agrees to $145 Million Settlement in Xyrem Generic Drug Antitrust Litigation
by: Motley Rice
April 28, 2025
The history and legacy of Workers’ Memorial Day
by:
M. Nolan We
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