Mike is an appellate lawyer with a wide range of experience in both civil and criminal litigation. He has written over a hundred appellate briefs and presented over twenty oral arguments in the federal courts of appeals. Mike is routinely hired not only for traditional appeals, but also to handle legal strategy and appellate preservation at the trial level, including arguing motions, jury instructions, and jury selection issues. Mike has worked on more than thirty trials in that role, for four clients: Meta, Philip Morris, Monsanto, and J&J.
Mike’s work spans a number of substantive areas. He has brought appeals raising questions of data privacy, product liability, class certification, due process, Article III standing, federal preemption, contract interpretation, excessive punitive damages, and many others. In data privacy litigation, for example, Mike has won two Ninth Circuit appeals for Meta: a challenge to its use of pixel technology, and a challenge to its use of facial recognition technology. In product liability cases, Mike has briefed appeals for Philip Morris, Walmart, Nissan, and Union Carbide, prevailing most recently in an appeal of a $43 million damages award against Philip Morris. In the last year, Mike has argued and won a First Circuit appeal defending Volvo’s nationwide prepaid maintenance plans, and a New York First Department appeal in a professional malpractice suit against a large accounting firm.
Mike devotes a large part of his practice to clients facing threats to their life or liberty. He has represented clients convicted of murder, sexual assault, robbery, drug trafficking, and firearm offenses, as well as immigrants facing deportation for criminal offenses. Mike has had successes in these areas: an opinion by the Second Circuit vacating a client’s conviction for murder for hire; a Fourth Circuit opinion requiring the suppression of child pornography obtained in an unconstitutional military search; a decision by the South Carolina Court of Appeals vacating a client’s conviction for robbery; and six federal appellate rulings barring the government from deporting immigrants to Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, and Poland. Mike has also worked with clients seeking executive clemency; in 2024, one of Mike’s clients was granted a commutation of his federal death sentence.
Mike received his J.D. with high honors from The University of Chicago Law School, where he was a comments editor on the Law Review. After law school, Mike was a law clerk to Judge Jay Bybee of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and to Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York. Before joining Shook, Mike was a partner at Mayer Brown LLP and an associate at Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP. Law360 has named Mike a “Rising Star,” explaining that he “has amassed victories for Facebook and other companies over a career that has also been marked by his dedication to pro bono work.”
Recent Appellate Wins (last two years)
Island Consolidated v. Grassi & Co., __ N.Y.S.3d __, 2025 WL 1583360 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2025): Briefed and argued appeal on behalf of a group of companies alleging professional malpractice against a large accounting firm. The First Department held that the plaintiffs’ suit was not barred by either the parties’ engagement letters or the statute of limitations.
United States v. Ray, __ F.4th __, 2024 WL 5707377 (4th Cir. 2025): Briefed and argued appeal on behalf of a defendant accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The Fourth Circuit held that a search of the defendant’s phone was unconstitutional and that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule did not apply, requiring the suppression of child pornography found on the defendant’s phone.
Doe v. Garland, 2024 WL 2153511 (2d Cir. 2024): Briefed appeal on behalf of an immigrant facing deportation to Mexico. The Second Circuit vacated the order of removal. It held that the government had to reconsider the client’s claim that, if forced to return to Mexico, he would be tortured by members of a notorious drug cartel.
Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Lipp, __ So. 3d __, 2024 WL 1289644 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 2024): Briefed appeal of a $43 million judgment against a tobacco company. The appellate court reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding that the trial court had improperly admitted hearsay testimony.
Colony Place South v. Volvo Car USA, 121 F.4th 973 (1st Cir. 2024): Briefed and argued appeal in which two car dealers alleged that Volvo’s nationwide, prepaid maintenance plans violated Massachusetts law. The district court granted summary judgment and the First Circuit affirmed, holding that the maintenance plans were not regulated by the Massachusetts Motor Vehicle Act.
Sommers v. Philip Morris USA Inc., 388 So. 3d 256 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 2024): Briefed appeal about the scope of Florida’s bar on successive punitive damages awards. The appellate court affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in the client’s favor, holding that plaintiff’s punitive damages claim was barred.