Michael V Ciresi

Career

Michael V. Ciresi is one of the few lawyers whose career spans both corporate representation and access to justice for individuals on the plaintiffs’ side, all at the highest levels of the profession. He has represented individuals, corporations, and governmental entities, and obtained nearly $12 billion in verdicts, awards, and settlements on behalf of his clients, with a trial and consulting practice focused in the areas of product liability, intellectual property, and business and commercial litigation.

In 2015, Mr. Ciresi founded Ciresi Conlin LLC where his practice ranges from large bet-the-company trials and high-profile business deals, to individual cases, all the while examining the complexities of each case and finding new and creative ways to pursue justice. Mr. Ciresi and his partners are dedicated to protecting the future of the law as well as the surrounding community.

Prior to founding Ciresi Conlin, Mr. Ciresi was a name partner and Chairman of the Executive Board of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. During his 43 years with the firm, he drove the firm’s litigation practice.

Mr. Ciresi served as lead counsel on some of the most complex and impactful cases of our times, including the Minnesota tobacco litigation and the Bhopal gas leak disaster litigation (the world’s worst industrial disaster) and has been consistently recognized by his peers. Some of his more visible cases include Kraft Foods Global, Inc./Mondelēz International, Inc. v. Starbucks, Whitely vs. Pfizer, Inc., WCRA, et al. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., et al., Charbonneau v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Pfizer, Inc., Zwayer v. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Pfizer, Inc., State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota v. Phillip Morris Incorporated, et al., Paul Wellstone, et al. v. Aviation Charters, et al., Honeywell v. Minolta, Unocal Corporation v. Atlantic Richfield Company, et al., Pitney Bowes Inc. v. HP, Ecolab v. Ford, et al., the Dalkon Shield litigation, Copper-7 litigation and the Government of India v. Union Carbide in which Mr. Ciresi was chief counsel to the Government of India.

Mr. Ciresi is the only lawyer named as a “Top Ten Minnesota Super Lawyer” every year since its inception. He is one of the few number of lawyers who has been recognized on two occasions in the National Law Journal’s annual list of “Ten of the Nation’s Top Trial Lawyers,” and in 1997, 2000 and 2006 was named by the Journal as one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.” In 2015, Benchmark Litigation named him one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in the United States. Best Lawyers named him “Minneapolis Bet-the-Company Litigation Law” Lawyer of the Year in 2012 and 2014 and Minneapolis Mass Tort Litigation/Class Action – Plaintiff’s Lawyer of the Year in 2014 and 2015.

In 1997, he was also named “Lawyer of the Year” by Minnesota Law & Politics. In 1998, he was awarded the “Trial Lawyer of the Year Award” by Public Justice Foundation (formerly The Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Foundation). He has also been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1989 and was honored by the Australian National Consumer Law Association as “Product Liability Lawyer of the Year” in 1989 and in 1998 was given a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Minnesota Association for Justice (formerly Minnesota Trial Lawyers Association). Mr. Ciresi was named a runner-up for “Lawyer of the Year” in 1998 by The National Law Journal. In 2001, Mr. Ciresi was named best product liability attorney in America by Corporate Board Member magazine. Also, in 2001, an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon Mr. Ciresi by Southwestern University School of Law. In 2002, Mr. Ciresi was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations Foundation, Inc. Mr. Ciresi is one of 289 lawyers listed in The International Who’s Who of Patent Lawyers 2005 and is named in The Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.

Among other professional organizations, Mr. Ciresi is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, American College of Trial Lawyers, Inner Circle of Advocates and International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Mr. Ciresi devotes a substantial amount of time to philanthropic activities. In 1999, he founded and has served as the Chairman and President of the Ciresi Walburn Foundation for Children (formerly Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation for Children). The Foundation has made grants in excess of $23 million to improve the lives of Minnesota children, with a primary emphasis in pre-K – 12 education.

He also serves (or has served) on the Board of Trustees for the University of St. Thomas, the Board of Governors of the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Board of Trustees of St. Thomas Academy, the Northside Achievement Zone, the Advisory Board for the Centre of Advanced Litigation at Nottingham Law School, Nottingham, England (term expired), the Board of Directors for Equal Justice Works (term expired), The Guthrie Theater (term completed 2005) and Ordway Center for the Performing Arts (term completed 2005), Regions Hospital Foundation (term completed 2009), Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, Ed Allies (formerly MinnCAN) (term completed 2018), Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation (term completed 2014), Parent Aware for School Readiness, and Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota (term completed 2015) and Children’s Hospital and Clinics Foundation Board (Chair 2013 and 2014).