WilmerHale is pleased to announce that Brian R. Michael, a former Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles and New York, has joined the firm’s Los Angeles office as counsel in the Business Trial, Securities Litigation and Enforcement, and Investigations and Criminal Litigation Groups at WilmerHale.
From 2003 to 2010, Michael served as an Assistant US Attorney, most recently in the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and before that in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. As an Assistant US Attorney, Michael tried cases and led investigations in complex cases involving securities and financial fraud, mail and wire fraud, organized crime, racketeering, money laundering, cybercrime and public corruption. In Los Angeles, Michael served in the Violent & Organized Crime Section both as Anti-Gang Coordinator, where he oversaw the coordination of federal anti-gang efforts with law enforcement agencies, government entities and community groups nationwide, and as the Violence Against Women Coordinator, where he led several high-profile celebrity stalking and extortion cases.
“Brian’s experience investigating and prosecuting large complex cases, together with his extensive trial and courtroom experience, will enhance our ability to handle our clients’ most significant and high-stakes matters,” said Randall Lee, partner-in-charge of WilmerHale’s Los Angeles office. “With Brian’s arrival, WilmerHale’s Los Angeles office now has three former Assistant US Attorneys, significantly bolstering on the West Coast the firm’s nationally recognized enforcement and investigations practice.”
From 2000 to 2003, Michael was a litigation associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York. He also previously served as Deputy Director of Congressional Affairs for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services in the US Department of Justice.
“I look forward to bringing my government and litigation experience to bear on behalf of the firm’s clients, and I am eager to help build and grow the Los Angeles office,” said Michael.
WilmerHale’s Litigation/Controversy Department has been recognized as one of the best in the nation. Most recently, the department was recognized in Vault’s “List of Most Prestigious Law Firms (2009)” in the “Best in Litigation” category, while The Lawyer ranked the firm in the top 10 of its annual list of the top 50 litigation practices. Since it was founded in 2007, WilmerHale’s Los Angeles office has served to strengthen and expand the firm’s highly respected securities enforcement, securities litigation, white collar defense, intellectual property litigation, and antitrust and competition practices on the West Coast.
Michael received his JD from Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and was a member of the Vanderbilt Law Review, and his BA from the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated with distinction. Following law school, he was a law clerk to the Honorable Gilbert S. Merritt, former Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.