Profile: Michael K Brown

Product Liability

Biography: Product Liability

Michael joined Reed Smith as part the firm's combination with Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May. At Crosby Heafey, Michael was the chair of the firm's approximately 140-attorney complex litigation practice group. He is the former managing partner of Crosby Heafey's Los Angeles office and was a member of the firm's executive committee from its inception in 1991, until the combination with Reed Smith. He was a member of the Reed Smith executive committee from 2003 to 2006.

Michael's litigation and trial practice focuses on complex product liability and commercial matters, including class actions, multi-district litigations (MDL), mass torts and claims for unfair business practices under the California Business and Professions Code Section 17200 and similar statutes.

Michael's clients include, among others, Medtronic Inc, Pfizer Inc, Merck & Co Inc, 3M, Schering-Plough Corporation, Cyberonics Inc, Eli Lilly and Company, Ecoquest International and Energy Brands, Inc.

Michael is actively involved in representing a number of companies involved in coordinated actions and putative class actions in state and federal courts involving claims of product liability, unfair competition and false advertising. He is currently national coordinating counsel for the maker of a prescription medication to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and is involved in litigation involving Cox-2 inhibitors, among other litigations. He is also representing Medtronic Inc in litigation involving its implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) as well as the AneuRx Stent Graft, an implantable device used to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA).

Michael has been regional and trial counsel for Medtronic Sofamor Danek in In Re: Orthopedic Bone Screw Products Liability Litigation and has been a member of the national trial team for 3M in the silicone gel breast implant litigation. He was a member of the coordinating counsel team for Sulzer Medica USA Inc in the inter-op hip litigation. In 2004, he was a faculty member of the IADC's 2004 trial academy at Stanford University.

Other Practice Areas

Additional Practice Areas