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Business litigation, international arbitration, intellectual property litigation, corporate governance and special situations, mass tort, personal injury
Michael Ciresi is a partner at Robins, Kaplan, Miller, & Ciresi L.L.P. His trial practice focuses in the areas of product liability, intellectual property, business, and commercial litigation. His work has been instrumental in the growth and diversity of the firm's practice. Ciresi served on the firm's executive board as chairman from 1995 to 2008 and as a member from 1983 to 2008.
Ciresi has acted as counsel for corporations, individuals, and governmental entities throughout his career. Other experiences include teaching and lecturing nationally and internationally to various professional and business groups.He also was a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Ciresi is perhaps most famous for serving as co-lead counsel in State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota v. Phillip Morris Incorporated, et al, the groundbreaking lawsuit against the tobacco industry. After four years of litigation— including discovery of more than 30 million pages of internal documents, litigation of crime-fraud privilege issues, more than a dozen interlocutory appeals (including two to the United States Supreme Court) and four months of trial, the case settled on May 8, 1998, on the eve of jury deliberations for $7 billion and unprecedented injunctive relief against the tobacco industry. Ciresi received the Trial Lawyer of the Year Award from Trial Lawyers for Public Justice for work on the litigation.
Ciresi serves on many boards of directors, including the boards of Public Radio International, Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Hennepin County Commission to End Homelessness, University of St. Thomas, Saint Thomas Academy, Institute of Judicial Administration at New York University School of Law, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, among others.
Ciresi's educational background includes a B.A. (1968) from the University of St. Thomas, a J.D. (1971) from the University of Minnesota Law School, and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (2001) from Southwestern University School of Law.
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