Mr. Lyle is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP and Chair of Quinn Emanuel’s Washington, D.C. Product Liability and Mass Torts Practice. He is an accomplished trial lawyer who has achieved victories for his clients at trial and on appeal in a wide range of complex cases in federal and state courts across the United States. He was recognized for his trial expertise by being appointed to the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and was a recipient of The National Law Journal’s Legal Times Champions & Visionaries Award for 2012. He has tried to judgment or jury verdict a number of significant matters, including products liability actions, trade secrets and trademark cases, and consumer fraud and business disputes. Mr. Lyle has also obtained injunctive relief in a number of cases, including a preliminary injunction on behalf of a major national health insurer in a deceptive trade practices case involving the pharmaceutical industry that was upheld by the Eighth Circuit. He has particular expertise in products liability and mass tort cases, representing companies in some of the largest disasters of recent times including the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Mr. Lyle was the Director of the White House Office of Administration in the Clinton Administration. He was responsible for the overall management of administrative services for the White House complex and testified before Congress in connection with the White House appropriation. He also served as the General Counsel for the White House Office of Administration where he provided legal advice and counsel in areas such as congressional investigations, crisis management, constitutional law, federal procurement and contracts, appropriations law and ethics. Drawing on his experience in the Clinton White House, he also represents clients in sensitive congressional and governmental investigations relating to the False Claims Act (FCA), product recalls and other civil matters, including state attorneys general investigations.
- Electrical Components International, Inc.
- Express Scripts
- Koch Industries
- O'Brien's Response Management
- SEACOR Holdings, Inc.
- Toyobo Co., Ltd.
- Served as lead trial counsel for Express Scripts, a large pharmacy benefits manager, in jury trial involving breach of contract claims brought by pharmacy after Express Scripts terminated the pharmacy from its network. Following a week-long trial, jury returned complete defense verdict in favor of Express Scripts.
- Won complete dismissal of all claims against Koch Industries as the alleged cause of coastal erosion in Louisiana, a victory that was subsequently affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The New York Times headlined the case as “The Most Ambitious Environmental Lawsuit Ever.”
- Representation of a large U.S. oil-spill cleanup company in connection with Congressional and other government investigations of the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Defense of Toyobo, a major Japanese fiber manufacturer, in federal and state False Claims Act cases, nationwide consumer fraud class actions, foreign claims, suits and investigation by states attorneys general, and personal injury claims arising from the sale of a high-performance fiber used in the manufacture of hundreds of thousands of bullet-resistant vests.
- Representation of SEACOR, a global provider of equipment and services supporting the offshore oil and gas industries, in claims arising out of the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and pending in the Deepwater Horizon MDL. Mr. Lyle was appointed by the federal district court to serve as Defense Liaison Counsel and to serve on the Defense Steering Committee for this multi-district litigation. Obtained dismissal of all claims, which was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
- Represented Bovis Lend Lease and secured a favorable outcome in mass tort litigation involving thousands of claims made by emergency workers arising out of the debris removal operations following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
- Represent and provide crisis management counseling to a multinational company in connection with the Fukushima, Japan nuclear accident.
- Advising one of the world's largest mineral resource companies on its negotiations with foreign governments and compliance with U.S. laws.
- Represented a major national health insurer in a multi-million dollar deceptive trade practices case. Successfully obtained a preliminary injunction against adversary, which was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
- Representation of Cooper Tire in defense of more than 30 class actions nationwide and a multi-district litigation that arose from claims asserted under state consumer fraud statutes involving the sale of over 170 million tires.
- Defense of major national health insurer in multiple class actions that had been consolidated into a multi-district litigation in Miami. Won summary judgment.
- Case Western Reserve University School of Law
(J.D., cum laude, 1988) - University of Rochester
(B.S., 1985)
- The District of Columbia Bar
- The State Bar of Illinois
- United States Supreme Court
- Supreme Court of Illinois
- United States Court of Appeals:
- Fourth Circuit
- Fifth Circuit
- Seventh Circuit
- Eighth Circuit
- D.C. Circuit
- United States District Courts:
- District of Columbia
- Eastern District of Michigan
- Western District of Michigan
- Central District of Illinois
- Northern District of Illinois
- Weil Gotshal & Manges:
- Partner, 2003-2013
- Partner, 2003-2013
- White House Office of Administration for President William J. Clinton:
- Director and General Counsel, 1998-2001
- Recognized by Benchmark Litigation - Product Liability - Litigation Star, National Practice Area Star, 2024
- Named “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer's Litigation Daily for not only defeating a $120 million breach of contract claim for Express Scripts but winning a $20 million counter-claim after four years of litigation.
- Listed as a “Recommended Lawyer” for Dispute resolution: Product liability, mass tort and class action, pharmaceuticals and medical devices (defense) and toxic tort (defense) by Legal 500, 2015-2018; 2022-2023
- Named as Leading Lawyer for Litigation: General Commercial in the District of Columbia by Chambers USA, 2012-2019
- Ranked as a "National Practice Area Star" in Product Liability by Benchmark Litigation, 2017
- Selected in the "Visionaries" category in the Legal Times Awards by The National Law Journal, 2012
- Selected as a "Next Generation of Killer Litigators" by the Illinois Legal Times, 1996
- Paul J. Hergenroeder Award for Top Student in Trial Tactics
- International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award for Most Outstanding Student in Trial Advocacy.
- Law360 Q&A with Weil’s Michael Lyle (February 21, 2013, Law360)
- Should Gulf Oil Spill Dispersant, Clean-up Companies Stay in the Litigation? (April 3, 2012, The Times-Picayune)
- Globalizing the Battleground Between US and Chinese Companies (December 2011, Asia Alert)
- Defending and Managing an Investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Part II) (September 22, 2011, Consumer Financial Services Law Report)
- CFPB Issues Investigation Rules, Underscoring Enforcement Role (Part I) (September 8, 2011, Consumer Financial Services Law Report)
- Dodd-Frank, One Year Later: A Primer On The Federal Rulemaking Process more > (August 2011, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel)
- How to Prepare for and Successfully Defend a Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition (March 11, 2011, Practical Law Company)
- Dodd-Frank’s Enforcement and Litigation Provisions (Winter 2011, In-House Litigator, Volume 25, Number 2)
- Financial Regulatory Reform: An Overview of The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (July 15, 2010, Financial Regulatory Reform Center)
- Preserving Privilege (July 28, 2008, The National Law Journal)
- Products Liability: Chinese Made-Goods (February 18, 2008, The National Law Journal)
- Trends in Nationwide and Multi-State Class Action Settlements (part 2) (May 2007, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel)
- Trends in Nationwide and Multi-State Class Action Settlements (part 1) (April 2007, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel)