Michael Williams is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. He was elected partner in December 2000 after only four years at the firm, and is the youngest person to be made a partner in the firm's history. Michael's practice is diverse, covering a wide range of complex litigation issues. His trial experience is extensive and equally diverse, serving as lead trial attorney in dozens of federal and state trials and arbitrations throughout the country. He has tried cases in nearly every major practice area of the firm, including patent, antitrust, trade secrets, copyright, class actions, general commercial litigation, employment, sports law, wrongful death, banking disputes, fraud, piracy, entertainment disputes, and defamation. Because of his trial skills, Michael has been brought in as trial counsel on the eve of trial (and in one case during trial) on multiple occasions.
Much of Michael's practice focuses on intellectual property issues, including copyright, trade secrets and trademark/false advertising matters, as well as antitrust and commercial business disputes. Michael has successfully defended dozens of class actions, frequently obtaining dismissals with prejudice at the pleading stage. He has also represented a number of companies and healthcare institutions in class actions and mass tort cases involving large scale sex abuse, sexual harassment and trafficking claims, as well as catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases where the potential exposure and reputational harm is significant.
His trial victory for TransWeb in a patent and antitrust case against 3M in which the jury found 3M engaged in fraud on the patent office and inequitable conduct earned him recognition by the American Lawyer as "Litigator of the Week" and by the Recorder in its "Antitrust Litigation Department of the Year." His victory at the California Supreme Court for the University of Southern California in Sargon v. USC redefined the admissibility of expert testimony in California, giving trial courts a greater "gatekeeping" role in excluding unreliable expert testimony. The diversity in Michael's practice allows him to see the bigger picture and take creative approaches to his cases by borrowing and applying concepts from different areas of the law.
Michael has a number of published appellate opinions to his credit, creating new law in areas involving the admissibility of expert testimony, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, California's anti-SLAPP statute, the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, Walker Process fraud, and the permissibility of classwide arbitrations under the Federal Arbitration Act. Michael has been repeatedly recognized as a Super Lawyer.
- TikTok/ByteDance
- Red Bull North America
- SHEIN
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
- University of Southern California
- DIRECTV
- Haymon Boxing
- Shopline USA
- US News & World Reports
- iTalk Global Communications
- Berkshire Partners
- Southern California Medical Center
- Represented TransWeb in TransWeb v. 3M as lead trial counsel in which a unanimous jury returned verdicts in favor of TransWeb for Walker Process fraud on the patent office, attempted monopolization, invalidity, non-infringement and inequitable conduct in the District of New Jersey, resulting in a $26 million judgment consisting of damages and attorneys’ fees. As a result of this verdict, Michael was named Litigator of the Week by the American Lawyer.
- Represented the University of Southern California in obtaining a landmark unanimous decision from the California Supreme Court in Sargon v. USC which upheld the trial court’s exclusion of plaintiff’s lost profits expert, seeking in excess of $1 billion arising out of a failed clinical study related to a dental implant, and reaffirming the trial court’s gatekeeping responsibility related to expert testimony.
- Obtained a dismissal with prejudice at the pleading stage for client WebGroup on class action claims involving allegations of sex trafficking through an online platform, finding the claims barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
- Obtained a complete victory for the University of Southern California following an arbitration against its former head football coach Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian brought wrongful termination and disability discrimination claims seeking over $50 million, arising out of his firing resulting from a series of public incidents involving his alcohol abuse. The arbitrator denied each of Sarkisian’s claims, resulting in a judgment in USC’s favor.
- Represented the University of Southern California in the class actions and mass tort actions involving claims of sex abuse and sexual harassment by former patients of USC Student Health gynecologist George Tyndall. The class actions resulted in a creative settlement structure, approved by the federal court, which provided just compensation to the class members while capping the potential number of opt-out claims in state court.
- On a confidential basis, represented a California health care institution in navigating potential sex abuse allegations by a physician, including advising on crisis management, litigation risks, regulatory issues and the implementation of best practices.
- Representing Red Bull North America in numerous product liability and wrongful death claims throughout the country arising out of allegations regarding the safety of its popular energy drink.
- Represented Red Bull North America in a wrongful death and personal injury claim arising out of a plane crash in Guatemala involving the plane of one of Red Bull’s sponsored athletes.
- Representing fast-fashion company SHEIN in litigation against Temu involving claims of antitrust, trade secrets, copyright infringement, trademark infringement and violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, obtaining dismissal of Temu’s antitrust, trade secrets and tortious interference claims at the pleading stage.
- Representing SHEIN in a class action alleging violations of RICO and copyright infringement through the use of AI and other automated technology.
- Representing TikTok and ByteDance in copyright litigation involving open source software licensed under the General Public License version 2, in which the Court granted a motion to dismiss finding that plaintiff’s breach of contract claims were preempted by the Copyright Act.
- Representing VIZIO/Walmart in a case of first impression alleging that non-copyright holders can sue for violations of the General Public License version 2 on a breach of contract/third party beneficiary theory.
- Represented iTalk Global Communications in copyright infringement actions brought by purported owners of Chinese copyrighted works displayed on iTalk’s video platform.
- Retained shortly before trial to be lead trial counsel in a catastrophic injury case for One Call, a medical logistics and transportation company, in which the plaintiff, a quadriplegic, was seeking hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of equipment failure. After being retained, the plaintiff settled for a small fraction of the prior demand just days before trial.
- Obtained a dismissal with prejudice after the Court denied class certification in a TCPA class action for Move, Inc.
- Obtained a complete defense ruling in a trade secrets arbitration involving a start-up cryptocurrency venture.
- Represented US News & World Reports in a First Amendment action against the San Francisco City Attorney challenging the legality of administrative subpoenas seeking the methodology behind its hospital rankings.
- Represented Southern California Medical Center and its CEO and CMO in claims alleging the CMO sexually assaulted and harassed the former CFO over a multi-year period.
- Represented Alterra Mountain Co. (operator of ski resorts) in multiple coordinated class actions by IKON passholders seeking refunds arising out of the closure of ski resorts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Represented Pacific Dental Services (one of the largest Dental Service Operators) in antitrust claims brought under California’s Clayton Act alleging price-fixing and a group boycott.
- Defended Haymon Sports and its CEO, Alan Haymon, the most prominent boxing manager in the sport, in a $300 million antitrust lawsuit by Oscar De La Hoya and his Golden Boy promotion companies. The plaintiffs alleged that Haymon attempted to monopolize the market for promotion of Championship-Caliber Boxers through a “tie-out” clause in their management contracts, as well as a series of exclusive contracts with free network television and basic cable networks. Obtained summary judgment, dismissing all antitrust claims with prejudice and throwing the case out.
- Represented DIRECTV in an unfair competition case brought by a former retailer, resulting in a defense verdict for DIRECTV and an affirmative verdict on DIRECTV’s trademark infringement claims in the Eastern District of North Carolina, which was affirmed on appeal.
- Represented DIRECTV in Garcia v. DIRECTV, obtaining a grant of certiorari from the United States Supreme Court on the propriety of classwide arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act, reversing the California Court of Appeal. On remand from the United States Supreme Court, the California Court of Appeal held for the first time in a published decision that whether or not an arbitration agreement governed by the FAA permits classwide arbitration must be determined by the arbitrator, not the courts, reversing long-standing decisions under California law.
- Represented DIRECTV in obtaining summary judgment of antitrust claims brought by a former retailer under California’s Cartwright Act. The plaintiff alleged that after it was terminated, DIRECTV illegally conspired with its retailers not to bid on or purchase plaintiff’s sales leads generated from telephone directory listings, which plaintiff alleged were worth nearly $30 million, so that it could obtain them for itself at a significantly reduced price. Plaintiff argued that DIRECTV’s conduct constituted an illegal monopsony, price fixing, bid rigging and a group boycott.
- Represented DIRECTV in a patent case brought by Phoenix Technologies involving voice recognition technology used in connection with call center technologies. Obtained summary judgment based on divided infringement which was affirmed by the Federal Circuit.
- Represented DIRECTV in a multi-district patent litigation brought by inventor Ronald Katz involving patent claims covering technologies used in interactive voice response (“IVR”) call center technology. Obtained summary judgment of invalidity and non-infringement on nearly all asserted claims, resulting in a favorable settlement.
- Represented CLARCOR in a false advertising case brought by 3M involving product packaging claims related to air filters for home HVAC units. Successfully defeated a preliminary injunction motion after expedited discovery, resulting in a favorable settlement.
- Represented Moldex-Metric in a false advertising lawsuit against 3M involving performance based claims related to safety ear plugs.
- Represented DIRECTV in pursuing and defending multiple false advertising lawsuits against competitors in the cable and satellite television industry.
- Represented DIRECTV in a class action matter against claims of extortion and unfair business practices arising out of DIRECTV's anti-piracy campaign. The Court of Appeal affirmed the lower court's order granting DIRECTV's anti-SLAPP motion and dismissed, with prejudice, the complaint. The Court of Appeal held that plaintiffs' claims do not seek to vindicate the public interest and are, therefore, not exempt under a recent amendment to the anti-SLAPP statute. The Court of Appeal also upheld an award of $97,000 in attorneys' fees and awarded additional fees on appeal.
- Represented the Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA") in a patent infringement action brought against it by the operators of peer-to-peer networks concerning the RIAA's efforts to monitor and combat illegal copyright infringement.
- Represented DIRECTV in Sosa v. DIRECTV, a class action RICO matter. Obtained a published decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal upholding the dismissal, with prejudice, under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine.
- Represented DIRECTV in Freeman v. DIRECTV, a class action matter alleging violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ("ECPA"). Obtained a published decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal affirming the dismissal of the complaint. In a case of first impression, the Court concluded that the ECPA did not permit liability for aiding and abetting or conspiracy to violate Section 2702 of the Act.
- Represented DIRECTV in DIRECTV v. NWS, which resulted in a multi-million dollar arbitration award for DIRECTV based on claims of fraud, signal theft and commercial misuse.
- Represented Napster in a patent infringement action brought by SightSound Technologies in the Western District of Pennsylvania involving three patents that purported to cover the transmission of audio and video files to internet users for a fee.
- Represented DIRECTV against claims of unfair business practices arising out of DIRECTV's policies relating to its Pay-Per-View programming. Obtained a complete defense award in a putative classwide arbitration.
- Represented DIRECTV against an individual trafficking illegal signal theft devices designed to decrypt and intercept satellite signals without authorization. Obtained a unanimous federal jury verdict finding 102 violations under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Federal Communications Act, and the Electronic Privacy Communications Act resulting in statutory damages in excess of $2,300,000.
- Represented DIRECTV in two class action antitrust cases alleging theories of monopolization, horizontal and vertical price fixing, illegal exclusive distribution, and restricted output, relating to the sale and distribution of DIRECTV's NBA League Pass and NHL's Center Ice programming packages. Obtained a dismissal on the pleadings and a published decision in Kingray v. DIRECTV.
- Obtained six-figure jury verdict and punitive damage award in business defamation case after being retained only one week before trial.
- Represented real estate developer Rick Caruso in a trial against General Growth Properties which resulted in an $88 million jury verdict after being retained two weeks after the start of the trial.
- Represented Fox subsidiary kSolo in two separate patent infringement actions arising out of its internet music distribution website.
- Represented HealthMarkets, Inc. in a class action lawsuit alleging fraud and other tort claims arising out of a nationwide health insurance program. Obtained a dismissal of the class action at the pleading stage.
- Antitrust & Competition
- Class Action and Mass Arbitration Group
- Domestic U.S. Arbitration
- Education Practice Group
- Employment Litigation
- Entertainment & Media Litigation
- Internet Litigation
- Product Liability & Mass Torts Litigation
- Satellite & Aerospace Litigation
- Copyright Litigation
- Patent Litigation
- Trademark, Trade Dress, Unfair Competition/False Advertising, and Publicity Rights Litigation
- Trade Secret Litigation
- Life Science: Mass Torts and Product Liability Litigation
- International Arbitration
- Harvard Law School
(J.D., cum laude, 1995)- Harvard Journal of Law and Technology:
- Staff member, 1994
- Harvard Journal of Law and Technology:
- University of Southern California
(B.A., summa cum laude and Salutatorian, Phi Beta Kappa, 1992)- Skull and Dagger Honor Society
- President, Mortar Board Honor Society
- Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi
- Member, The State Bar of California
- California Supreme Court
- United States Court of Appeals:
- Ninth Circuit
- Federal Circuit
- United States District Courts:
- Central District of California
- Southern District of California
- Eastern District of California
- Northern District of California
- Western District of Michigan
- District of Colorado
- United States Court of Federal Claims
- Extern to the Hon. Ronald S. W. Lew:
- United States District Court for the Central District of California, 1993
- Law Clerk to the Hon. Richard A. Gadbois, Jr.:
- United States District Court for the Central District of California, 1995-1996
- Member, American Bar Association Member
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
- Western Justice Center, Board Member
- Joan’s Wish List, Founder of non-profit providing support to domestic violence survivors