Biography of Michael A. Schlanger

Education: B.A., Columbia University, 1965, American History. Freshman and Varsity Wrestling Teams.

 J.D., George Washington University Law School, 1970. Notes Editor, George Washington Law Review, Order of The Coif.  Co-Founder, GW Minority Student Program, among the first such programs in American law. Honorary Co-President of the GW Order of the Coif Chapter (1977-78).

Employment: Associate, Covington & Burling, 1970-78; Assistant Director, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, 1978-81; Partner, Piper & Marbury, 1981-87; Partner, Shaw Pittman, 1987-92; Partner, Sonnenschein, 1992-2007; Partner, Covington & Burling, 2007-2014; Counsel, Zuckerman Spaeder, 2014-9/30/2016.

Bar Admissions: District of Columbia (active); U.S. District Court, District of Maryland (active).

Court Admissions: U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit; U.S. Courts of Appeal, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eleventh Circuits.

Representative Clients in Proceedings of Public Record:  American Red Cross; B.A.T Industries plc; Cablevision Systems Corporation; Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center; Exxon Mobil;  FPL Group; Gary Forsee/Sprint; GE (Genworth Financial); Maine Medical Center; Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company; May Department Stores;  Prudential Insurance Company; Quanta Capital Holdings; Sun Microsystems; Talecris Biotherapeutics; T. Rowe Price; U.S. News & World Report; Wal-Mart Stores;  Yale-New Haven Hospital; Yale University; 37 major academic medical centers in the United States Supreme Court.

Representative Matters for Clients in Proceedings of Public Record:

  • Sun Microsystems: Co-lead trial counsel for Sun in its antitrust litigation against Microsoft, which culminated in a $2,100,000,000 settlement for Sun, then the largest settlement ever in a two-party antitrust case.

 

  • Prudential Insurance Company: One of Prudential’s principal courtroom lawyers in the  multi-year defense against the securities fraud claims asserted against it in the MDL Sales Practices Litigation, and in the defense of its nationwide employment-related sales practices cases (e.g., in dozens of NASD, judge and jury trials brought by former managerial, sales and legal personnel).

 

  • Wal-Mart Stores: Multi-year representation of the company and subsidiaries in putative federal and state class actions and other high-risk cases, including cases within the Third, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits, in defense of claims pleaded under consumer protection, racketeering, labor and employment, workers’ compensation and health care provider statutes, and in the prosecution of common law claims arising out of the destruction of one of Wal-Mart’s flagship stores by a 60-ton boulder that fell from a mountaintop quarry operated by the defendants.

 

  • American Red Cross: Multi-year general outside litigation counsel; trial counsel in the successfully concluded defense of a RICO, constitutional tort and common law conspiracy claim before a jury in federal court in El Paso, Texas (and in the Fifth Circuit) alleging a conspiracy to mischaracterize cross-border medical equipment sales as donations; and in the successfully concluded defense of platelet apheresis equipment contract and product failure litigation concerning 40 contracts in 25 states.

 

  • Genworth Financial (formerly GE Financial Assurance): Litigation counsel in the defense of dozens of securities cases (e.g., claims arising out of alleged private securities transactions by former representatives; and claims related to the sales and marketing of variable annuities and life insurance policies).

 

  • Cablevision Systems Corporation (then one of America’s largest cable television operators and owner of Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks) in the protracted cable copyright litigation in federal district court and in the D.C. Circuit, and in numerous other antitrust, media and commercial matters.

 

  • FPL Group, Inc. (Florida Power & Light Co.): Litigation counsel for FPL and subsidiaries in numerous antitrust, RICO, cable communications and commercial cases throughout the State of Florida.

 

  • Sands, Taylor & Wood Company: Litigation counsel for the company in obtaining against The Quaker Oats Company the then-largest trademark infringement judgment awarded (for Gatorade’s infringement of the Thirst-Aid mark).

 

  • Quanta Capital Holdings: Litigation counsel for Quanta, a P&C reinsurer, in the successful (and industry-precedent-setting) defense of federal securities class actions arising out of losses incurred by reason of unprecedented hurricane seasons.
     

  • Exxon Corporation: Successful defense of Exxon in federal district court for the District of Columbia (and in the D.C. Circuit) of a case of first impression under the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act, which established important precedent for Exxon’s franchisor/franchisee relations with its more than 33,000 domestic franchisees.
     

  • May Department Stores: Successful defense of May  in state court in Maryland against the State of Maryland’s $400,000,000 civil money penalty suit for alleged deceptive advertising in the sale of mattresses and other high-end consumer products.
     

  • T. Rowe Price: Successful defense of T. Rowe Price in federal district court for the District of Columbia (and in the D.C. Circuit) of a suit by its former CEO for reformation of the company’s employee stock option plan.
     

  • One-O-One Enterprises v. Caruso, et al.: Successful defense of the sellers of a restaurant business in federal district court for the District of Columbia  (and in the D.C. Circuit) of a suit for alleged securities fraud in the sale of the business. The D.C. Circuit opinion (Ginsburg, R., J.) established the D.C. Circuit standard for “reasonable reliance” under the federal securities laws.
     

  • Talecris Biotherapeutics: Successful defense of a global biotherapetics company in a patent infringement suit in federal court in North Carolina directed to methods of sampling blood plasma donations.

 

  • CD-adapco:  Successful defense in federal district court in New Hampshire (and in the First Circuit) of a trade secret case alleging misappropriation of computer code in the two-firm market for computational fluid dynamics software.

 

  • Gilead Science: Successful defense of this leading pharmaceutical company in a whistleblower suit in federal court in California alleging federal and state claims, including under the New York State and New York City Human Rights laws.

 

  • Gary D. Forsee: Successful defense of this longstanding client, then Vice Chairman of BellSouth and Chairman of Singular Wireless, in an expedited arbitration in Atlanta, Georgia, brought by those companies to enjoin Mr. Forsee from becoming Chairman and CEO of Sprint.

 

  • B.A.T Industries plc:  District of Columbia counsel in the successful defense of numerous health-related RICO and antitrust cases filed against B.A.T and the major American tobacco companies.

 

  • The Peterson Companies: Litigation counsel for The Peterson Companies (then the largest real estate developer in Virginia) in federal and state court land use cases.

 

  • Major Academic Medical Centers: For a number of years, I represented major academic medical centers in antitrust, health care reform and tax cases. In a recent term, I represented 37 such medical centers in the United States Supreme Court in support of their federal tax refund claims arising out of their medical residency programs; at issue overall were more than $4 billion for the years 2005 forward. (Previously, following substantial litigation, the government had conceded the medical centers’ multi-billion-dollar claims for all prior years in issue.) 

 

  • Alexandria, VA “Rocket-Docket” Cases: Litigation counsel in more than 20 cases on the Alexandria, Virginia federal district court “rocket docket,” the fastest district court in America, including class actions and individual actions for, among others, Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company; U.S, News & World Report; Sprint and Gary Forsee; Chevy Chase Bank; Yale University; The Peterson Companies; Perpetual Bank; the Anden Group; and the 2000 inmates of Lorton Reformatory, in the areas of RICO, securities, ERISA, intellectual property, statutory and common law fraud and conspiracy; and prisoners’ procedural due process rights in disciplinary proceedings.

 

GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE:

 

Assistant Director, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission (1978-81): As Assistant Director, I tried the Exxon/Reliance Electric and Weyerhaeuser/Menasha merger litigations in federal court in the District of Columbia; obtained the then-largest post-merger divestiture in the ARCO/Anaconda case; directly supervised a staff of 25 attorneys and support staff in domestic and international Sherman Act and Clayton Act investigations and adversary proceeding, worked closely with the FTC’s Bureau of Economics and Office of Policy Planning,  served on the FTC’s Performance Review Board, and received the FTC’s “Outstanding Senior Executive Award” in 1981.  

 

HONORS AND RANKINGS

Chambers USA 2009-2012, named as one of the best commercial litigators in Washington, DC.

Washington DC Super Lawyer, Antitrust Litigation, Securities Litigation, Business Litigation (2012-2016).

Legal 500 US, Litigation - Trade Secrets (2012).

Legal Media Group's Benchmark Litigation: Guide to America's Leading Litigation Attorneys - "State Star," DC (2011-2016)

FTC’s “Outstanding Senior Executive Award,”  1981.

Neighborhood Legal Services Meritorious Achievement Award for my work in Pemell v. Southall Realty, 416 U.S. 363 (1974).

Washington Lawyers' Committee's Outstanding Achievement Award for my class action representations in federal district courts and courts of appeal of the District of Columbia and the Fourth Circuit of the inmates of Lorton Reformatory in support of their claims that the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment applies to prison disciplinary proceedings, and for my work on similar issues in Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539 (1974).

As a Columbia College varsity wrestler, I established (and still hold) an Ivy League and Eastern Intercollegiate record for successfully wrestling up four weight classes (123 to 157) in the 1963 EIWA Tournament.

 

PRO BONO

  • In 1972, on a six-month assignment from Covington & Burling, I served as a full-time staff attorney at the Neighborhood Legal Services Program. During this time, I handled more than 100 cases, many of which I took to trial (in D.C. Superior Court and in the D.C. federal district court), in the areas of landlord-tenant, consumer protection, automobile negligence, domestic relations and bankruptcy. I brought back to Covington with me a case on which I prevailed in the United States Supreme Court, Pernell v. Southall Realty, 416 U.S. 363 U.S. (1974), in which the Court held that the Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to jury trial in landlorlord-tenant eviction proceedings.

 

  • Beginning in 1971, and continuing for more than a decade, I represented the inmates of Lorton Reformatory in proceedings described above. 

 

  • Since 1981,  I have supervised many of my firms’ pro bono cases, civil and criminal, in the federal and local courts, including a recent first-degree murder case in which we obtained a verdict of “not criminal responsible” for a Maryland defendant charged with two first-degree murders. Most recently, I represented a mother  in the United States Supreme Court in an international child custody case, Yaman v. Yaman, 135 S.Ct. 2351 (2015). After the Court denied cert, the case was settled on favorable terms, i.e., terms that enabled the children to remain in the United States.

 

  • While in law school,  I was a Co-Founder of the GW Minority Student Program, among the first such programs in American law.

 

  • Since 1983, I have served as a Trustee of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

 

  • I have served as a Director of Ayuda, Inc. (Washington's first Hispanic legal and consumer services agency).

 

  • I have served as Honorary Co-President of the GW Order of the Coif Chapter.

   

PUBLICATIONS, SPEECHES AND CORPORATE CONFERENCES

  • "Federal Court Rejects Securities Fraud Claims Based on Understated Loss Reserves," Covington E-Alert (2/3/2009), Co-Author.

   

  • "Verizon v. Trinko and the Uncertain Future of 'Refusal to Deal' Antitrust Liability," New York State Bar Association Corporate Counsel Newsletter (April 2005), Co-Author

   

  • "United States v. Oracle: A Delphic Guide to the Government's Burden in Antitrust Merger Litigation," New York State Bar Association Corporate Counsel Newsletter (January 2005), Co-Author

 

  • “The Dispassionate and Efficient Prosecution, Defense and Settlement of Civil RICO Claims,” Iowa State Bar Association, Corporate Law Section (May 1992). Co-Author.

 

  • Kellogg School of Management, Annual Corporate Governance Conference, Attendee, May 2003 to present:  From May 2003 forward, I have been an invited attendee at the Kellogg School of Management’s Annual Corporate Governance Conference. This two-day conference, now in its 25th year, held each May on the campus of Northwestern University, brings together officers and directors of large publicly-held corporations, and other leaders from industry, finance, academe, foundations, think thanks, and federal regulatory agencies. I am the only trial lawyer ever to have been invited to attend the Conference.