Michael J. Friedman, Partner

Michael J. Friedman is a litigation partner in the firm’s New York office focusing on issues of corporate governance and public governance.

He regularly represents corporate entities, management, directors, and institutional investors in actions involving allegations of mismanagement, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud. His corporate governance representations include:

• Representation of an institutional lender as plaintiff in a creditor derivative action against its borrower’s management in Delaware Chancery Court;
• Defense of a multi-national consumer products manufacturer in numerous securities fraud class actions challenging the adequacy of the consideration paid in various mergers and acquisitions;
• Defense of a major international accounting firm in numerous intra-partnership arbitrations;
• Defense of a major brokerage firm in a securities fraud class action challenging its analyst’s research concerning a fraudulent gold mining company;
• Representation of the largest victim of an extensive investment management fraud in a federal receivership proceeding and numerous ancillary inter-creditor cases;
• Representation of the victim of a heavily publicized international Ponzi scheme in a federal receivership proceeding;
• Defense of a national commercial bank in connection with a fraud committed by a depositor’s fiduciary;
• Defense of an employee of a major brokerage firm in connection with a massive fraud committed by a brokerage customer.

In addition, Mr. Friedman represents businesses challenging actions by state and local governments, and has represented the interests of state and local governments challenging actions by the federal government. His public governance representations include:

• Representation of a nuclear power plant operator in a dispute with local municipalities over the adequacy of its emergency evacuation plans;
• Representation of a waste disposal company in a contract dispute with a local municipality;
• Representation of an amicus curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case challenging the sufficiency of Arizona’s English Language Learners education programs;
• Representation of amici curiae before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case challenging the constitutionality of New York State’s judicial nomination process.

Honors and Awards

Mr. Friedman received the 2009 Burton Award for achievement in legal writing. Burton Awards are presented to authors who use plain, clear, and concise language and avoid archaic, stilted legalese in published articles.

Activities

Education

Speeches and Publications

Mr. Friedman has spoken on the protection of trade secrets in conjunction with the New York County Lawyers’ Association, on confidentiality of court proceedings in conjunction with the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and on current developments in New York commercial litigation in conjunction with Bloomberg Law.

Mr. Friedman is the author of “UCC Article 4A: Displacing Common-Law Tort Claims,” published in the New York Law Journal on Nov. 21, 2008, and “Another Stab at Schneckloth: The Problem of Limited Consent Searches & Plain View Seizures,” 89 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 313 (1998).