Profile: Michael J Chepiga

Corporate Governance

Biography: Corporate Governance

Michael Chepiga is a litigation partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and a member of the firm's executive committee. He represents clients in securities litigation, class actions, derivative actions and corporate control litigation. Mr Chepiga has handled securities litigation cases involving AIG, HealthSouth, Hollinger, Celera Genomics, Express Scripts, Winstar Communications, Cendant, Royal Ahold, Dynegy, Travelers, American Electric Power, and KeySpan. Litigations arising from corporate acquisitions or transactions include: SunGard Data Systems, Instinet Group, Telecorp/ATT Wireless, Wachovia, Seagate Technologies, American Home Products/Warner Lambert/Pfizer, Chrysler/Kerkorian, KKR/RJR Nabisco, Paramount v Time Warner, Paramount v QVC and numerous others.

Mr Chepiga served as president of the Legal Aid Society of New York from 1996 to 1998, as a director from 1988 to 1998, and a member of the executive committee from 1992 to 1998. He is currently a director of VOLS (Volunteers of Legal Services Inc), and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He is a frequent lecturer on continuing legal education panels and is the author of Getting and Spending, a play produced at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway in October 1998.

Mr Chepiga joined Simpson Thacher in 1981 and became a partner in 1986. He received a BA summa cum laude from Fordham University in 1970; a PhD in English from New York University in 1976; and a JD from Yale University in 1979. He was a law clerk to the Honorable Milton Pollack (SDNY) from 1979 to 1980 and to the Honorable Amalya Kearse (second circuit) from 1980 to 1981.