Michael L. Martinez is a partner in the firm’s International Dispute Resolution, Torts, and White Collar groups, and is resident in the Washington, DC Office. He has an extensive and wide variety of litigation experience before courts and administrative tribunals at all levels. He has tried more than thirty cases, including both jury and bench trials in both federal and state courts. He also has argued approximately twenty-five appellate cases in various federal and state appellate courts, including one case in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Cases Michael has litigated have included issues involving complex international, government, commercial, and financial matters, product liability, white collar fraud, false claims actions, qui tams, toxic torts, and government contracts. He has also been successful in litigating various international cases involving foreign sovereign countries. 

Michael was recently the lead trial lawyer for a Fortune 50 company in the defense of eight consolidated products liability cases. In addition, many of the cases Michael has handled have been high profile matters generating media attention. These include for example, the defense of two US Marshals for actions taken during the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident, litigation over First Amendment issues at various demonstrations in the Washington, D.C. area, and lawsuits against foreign governments that sponsor terrorism.

Michael was an Assistant United States Attorney for nearly ten years, with eight years in the District of Columbia (1985-93), and two years in Philadelphia (1983-85). In the DC office he also served as Deputy Chief of that Office's Civil Division (1988-93). In 1993, Attorney General Janet Reno awarded him the Department of Justice's Gallinghouse Award for Excellence in Financial Litigation.

Michael received his J.D. in 1978 from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law. In 1975, he received an A.B. in Economics with Honors from the University of California, Davis. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania bars. He is also a member of many federal appellate and district court bars. Michael has been recognized by The Best Lawyers In America 2007 and 2008 in the areas of mass tort litigation and product liability litigation.

Michael was recently appointed to the International Litigation Committee Steering Group and the International Commercial Dispute Resolution Committee Steering Group of the American Bar Association's Section on International Law. He is currently serving as a member of the Lawyer Counseling Panel of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and previously served on that Court’s Advisory Committee for Local Rules (1994-98). Michael is also currently serving a third three year term on the Board of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association. He was also President in 2006-07 of the Assistant U.S. Attorneys Association of DC.

A sample of reported decisions in cases handled by Michael is set forth below:

• Belizan v. Hershon, 495 F.3d 686 (D.C. Cir. 2007) and 432 F. Supp. 2d 51 (D.D.C. 2006) (Defense of accounting firm in putative securities fraud class action)
• Iqbal v. Hasty, 490 F.3d 143 (2d Cir. 2007) (Qualified immunity defense arising out of post 9/11 events in New York)
• In Re Iraq and Afghanistan Detainees Litigation, 479 F. Supp. 2d 85 (D.D.C. 2007) (Qualified immunity defense arising out of Iraq war detentions)
• Brown v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co, Inc., 906 A.2d 787 (Del. 2006) (Successful defense of a Daubert expert exclusion)
• Kilburn v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 376 F.3d 1123 (D.C. Cir. 2004) and 277 F.Supp. 2d 24 (D.D.C. 2003) (Defeated assertions by Libya that it is entitled to sovereign immunity)
• Kerr v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 245 F. Supp. 2d 59 (D.D.C. 2003) (Following trial, secured award of $33 million in compensatory damages to family of Malcolm Kerr, President of American University of Beirut who was assassinated in 1984)
• Price v. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 294 F.3d 82 (D.C. Cir. 2002) (represented amicus curiae in dispute over amendments to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act)
• Sutherland v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 151 F. Supp. 2d 27 (D.D.C. 2001) (Following trial, secured award to former hostage and his family of $58 million in damages)
• Guilford Transportation Industries v. Wilner, 760 A.2d 580 (D.C. 2000) (Successful defense of defamation claims against a reporter)
• Kimberlin v. Quinlan, 199 F.3d 496 (D.C. Cir. 1999) (First Amendment/qualified immunity issues)
• Harris v. Roderick, 126 F.2d 1189 (9th Cir. 1997) (Successful defense of two US Marshals against excessive force and other claims at Ruby Ridge, Idaho)
• United States ex rel. Findley v. FPC-Boron Employees’ Club, 105 F.3d 675 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 865 (1997) (Successful defense of qui tam/False Claims Act case)
• Ralvin Pacific Properties, Inc. v. United States, 871 F. Supp. 468 (D.D.C. 1994)(Successful challenge to and trial of multimillion dollar government contract award)
• Novicki v. Cook, 946 F.2d 938 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (Defense of federal debarment issues)
• Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Kerrigan, 865 F.2d 382 (D.C. Cir. 1989) (Successful defense of First Amendment protest restrictions at United States Capitol)
• Kahane v. Secretary of State, 700 F. Supp. 1162 (D.D.C. 1988) (Successful defense of citizenship renunciation challenge brought by well-known and controversial Israeli politician)
• Goldberg v. United States, 818 F.2d 71 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 904 (1987)(Successful defense of national security issues in a Freedom of Information Act case)
• Bruegging v. Burke, 696 F. Supp. 674 (D.D.C. 1987)(Successful defense of handicap discrimination claims)
• United States v. Tyson, 22 E.R.C. 1471 (E.D. Pa. 1986)(Successful civil Superfund prosecution to recover costs for dumping toxic chemicals)
• Industrial Park Development Co. v. EPA, 604 F. Supp. 1136 (E.D. Pa. 1985) (Successful defense of EPA injunction to halt leaching of toxic chemicals into Delaware River)

Education
University of California, Davis , A.B., 1975
University of California, Berkeley - Boalt Hall, J.D., 1978

Affiliations
Admitted to practice: District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and various federal appellate and district courts

Publications
"We've Conducted Our Own Tests," Legal Times, Vol. XXVII, No. 51 (December 19, 2005). Co-Authors: William L. Anderson and Michael L. Martinez.

"Valuable Exception: Suits Against 'State Sponsors of Terrorism'," San Francisco Daily Journal (October 11, 2005). Author: Michael L. Martinez.

"Exposure and Absorption Testimony in Toxic Tort Cases: The Importance of Specificity," ABA Expert Alert, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer 2005). Author: Michael L. Martinez.

"Combating State-Sponsored Terrorism With Civil Lawsuits," Victim Advocate, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Spring/Summer 2002). Co-Authors: Michael L. Martinez and Stuart Newberger.

"Guarding Prisoner Without A Net," Legal Times (July 14, 1997). Author: Michael L. Martinez.

"Qui Tam Undergoing Reconstructive Surgery," DCHA Advocate (Spring 1997). Author: Michael L. Martinez.

"Healthcare Claims Getting Thorough Examination," Washington Business Journal (May 31, 1996). Author: Michael L. Martinez.

"Looking Closely At Doctors’ Bills," Legal Times (March 4, 1996). Co-Author: Michael L. Martinez.

Speeches & Presentations
"International Commercial Arbitration in the Middle East North Africa Region," ICDR International Arbitration and Mediation Conference, Washington, D.C. (November 2007). Presenter: Michael L. Martinez.