Michael O. Ware

Michael Ware litigates securities, antitrust and international cases in state and federal courts across the United States. He also represents companies and individuals in arbitrations and in investigations conducted by the SEC, the Department of Justice, the New York County District Attorney and other authorities.

Since Michael joined the firm in 1999, his international public and private law engagements have resulted in a number of landmark decisions. His antitrust litigation experience ranges from hard-core cartels to price maintenance. In recent years clients have called on him to handle a wide variety of matters relating to the US residential mortgage crisis, often in litigation involving mortgage-backed securities and other complex financial instruments.

• In re Vitamins Antitrust Litigation. Court-appointed defense liaison counsel in major cartel litigation.  Conceived, organized, briefed and argued all defendants’ successful response to a novel request by plaintiffs in collateral litigation in Canada to obtain access to discovery materials generated under seal in the MDL proceedings.  In re Vitamins Antitrust Litig., 2001 WL 34088808 (D.D.C. March 19, 2001); VitaPharm Canada Ltd. v. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., [2001] 6 C.P.C.5th 245 (Ont. Super. Ct. Just.), aff’d, [2002] 159 O.A.C. 204 (Div’l Ct.), aff’d sub nom., Ford v. F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., [2003] 223 D.L.R.4th 445 (Ont. Ct. App.), appeal dismissed, [2003] 194 O.A.C. 199 (note) (Can.).  Briefed and argued first-impression state-law damages question resulting in the substantial reduction of all defendants’ exposure.  In re Vitamins Antitrust Litig. (Kellogg Co. v. BASF AG), 259 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D.D.C. 2003).  Briefed and argued significant pre-CAFA appeal on diversity jurisdiction over class actions.  Crawford v. F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., 267 F.3d 760 (8th Cir. 2001).  Coordinated and briefed successful dispositive motions in a number of state-law cases.  E.g., In re Vitamins Antitrust Litig. (Southeast Milk, Inc. v. F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd.), Misc. No. 99‑197 (TFH) (D.D.C. Dec. 13, 2004) (Florida), aff’d, 183 Fed. Appx. 1 (D.C. Cir. 2006); In re Vitamins Antitrust Litig. (Greene v. F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd.), 2001 WL 849928 (D.D.C. April 11, 2001) (Tennessee), appeal dismissed, No. 01‑7093 (D.C. Cir. 2001); In re Vitamins Antitrust Litig. (Basic Drugs, Inc. v. BASF Aktiengesellschaft), 2001 WL 34088809 (D.D.C. March 19, 2001) (Ohio); In re Vitamins Antitrust Litig. (Watkins v. F. Hoffman-La Roche, Ltd.), 2001 WL 34088807 (D.D.C. March 13, 2001) (Alabama).  Contributed to the briefing and preparation of the case in which the Supreme Court largely barred U.S. antitrust claims by foreign-market purchasers.  F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A., 542 U.S. 155 (2004).

• Yale University, BA
• Fordham University School of Law, JD

• New York