Experience

Experience with litigation resolves disputes; experience with disputes resolves litigation.

I have represented plaintiffs and defendants in cases in state or federal courts in over 40 states and in numerous arbitrations, this have given me extensive experience in complex litigation and dispute resolution and intensive experience in contracts, torts, mass torts, class action, insurance, antitrust, administrative law, false claims act law, employment discrimination, civil rights, securities and telecommunications, among other things:

  • Co-counsel in case resulting in a completely favorable Delaware jury verdict in favor of insurer based on failure to obtain consent to a settlement and affirmance by the Delaware Supreme Court
  • Lead counsel for the Financial Planning Association in its successful challenge to the SEC’s “broker-dealer” rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • Lead counsel for the Air Line Pilots Association in the arbitration involving one of the largest financial claims in its history
  • Lead counsel for insurer in first case ever to rule on whether entity insurance coverage for securities claims applies to claims arising from the insured’s securitization of mortgages
  • Successfully represented client in administrative law challenge concerning EPA regulation in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • Successfully represented client in NEPA challenge in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
  • Represented State of Nevada before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in opposing the licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository
  • Represented UPREIT contributor in arbitration seeking to enforce tax protection agreement entered into by one of the largest REITs in the world
  • Represented relators in novel False Claims Act case that obtained $76.25 million in recoveries based upon allegations of price fixing for carbon fiber and in companion antitrust litigation
  • Successfully represented the USA Track & Field Association in an antitrust challenge to its standards for competition
  • Lead counsel for the many-year primary insurer in a 15-year coverage dispute involving scores of thousands of asbestos claims
  • Obtained an $87.5 million settlement, serving as plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel on behalf of a group of telecommunication companies in litigation involving telephone rates
  • Was part of a team that secured a jury verdict finding over 26,000 violations of the Federal False Claims Act relating to the purchase of oil off Government and Native American leases
  • Lead counsel for the primary director’s and officers’ liability insurer in connection with what was at the time the nation’s largest health care bankruptcy
  • Lead counsel for inventor of the accordion-folded car shade in patent and Lanham Act challenge
  • Substantially responsible for crafting the class action mechanisms used to settle $2 billion of asbestos liabilities
  • Represented a DSL service provider in an antitrust action against a competing incumbent local exchange carrier for unlawfully maintaining monopoly power in various telecommunications markets
  • Lead counsel for the (then) Veterans’ Administration in two-month trial concerning the constitutionality of fee limits
  • Lead counsel for the U.S. Department of Education in eight-month Kansas City, Missouri school desegregation trial

Knowing what works, what does not work, and what can be done helps me be a better litigator and counselor.

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What People Say About Merril

  • I’ve worked with Merril for more than 20 years. He brings a unique and valued perspective to dispute resolution. His wealth of complex litigation experience, detailed knowledge of the insurance industry, and longstanding relationships with plaintiffs’ counsel, defense counsel and insurance executives will greatly facilitate the resolution complex disputes in a fair and reasonable manner. You can be confident that your position will be evaluated carefully, thoroughly and with integrity, and if there is a way to settle on good terms, Merril will almost certainly find it.

    Wallace A. Christensen, Managing Director, Chesterbrook Woods, LLC, Member American College of Trial Lawyers

  • Merril Hirsh worked with DC Appleseed pro bono on a project designed to make DC’s Attorney General more accountable to the public and make it an elected office. The project required careful analysis of a number of competing claims as well as the bringing together of a number of conflicting viewpoints. Merril was superb at both those undertakings and helped lead us to a really good outcome for the residents of DC.

    Walter Smith, Executive Director DC Appleseed

  • I practiced law with Merril for more than 20 years. Among other things, he taught me how to take my very first deposition as a newly-minted attorney, and we worked together on complex litigation matters, from insurance coverage to patent and trademark disputes. Merril is one of the smartest people I know. He has an uncanny ability to identify all the nuances and angles of even the most complex matters, analyze them thoroughly, and explain them persuasively. Merril is someone who could pick up pretty much any case in any subject matter and figure it out very quickly.

    Jennifer Mathis, Partner, Troutman Sanders LLP

  • Merril Hirsh is an organized and experienced litigator who gets things done! He has been chairing a special ABA Committee relating to Special Master appointments. I have worked with him on this project for the past 18 months. He is efficient and effective. He encourages others to work with him and with each other. These traits would make him an outstanding mediator, arbitrator or special master.

    Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (ret.)

  • Merril Hirsh is the complete package. His deep and broad experience as a counselor and litigator, in advocating on behalf of clients and understanding their interests, complements his innate talent as an effective neutral. Add to all of that a superlative work ethic, creativity, and a passion for “getting to ‘yes.’” A lawyer and her or his client will be in excellent hands with Merril as the neutral.

    William D. Johnston, Partner at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP in Wilmington, Delaware and Immediate Past Chair of the ABA Business Law Section

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