He takes pride in having tried more class action cases to verdict than anyone else in the country, spending 215 days in court for trials.
NAPLES, FL, July 23, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Michael J. Mueller, Esq., has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. Mueller is a partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, where he has served since 2008. With a career spanning over 37 years, he has established himself as a leader in litigation and labor and employment law. His tenure at the firm includes ten years from 2008 to 2018 when he co-headed the Retail and Consumer Products Litigation practice group (formerly known as Business Litigation, and before that Complex Commercial Litigation). Before joining Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, Mr. Mueller was a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP between 1994 and 2008, where he was head of the national class action team.
Mr. Mueller's legal acumen is underscored by his remarkable achievements in the courtroom. He takes pride in having tried more class action cases to verdict than anyone else in the country, spending 215 days in court for trials. In 2023, Mr. Mueller was lead counsel in the largest Fair Labor Standards Act case that the U.S. Department of Labor ever took to trial, reducing the government's claims for back wages and penalties from $240 million (in a damages only trial) to $22 million, and he convinced the jury to reject all of the government's remaining claims. Among other noteworthy cases, Mr. Mueller was trial counsel for Food Lion in its famous lawsuit against ABC News, which involved an undercover camera special on the TV show PrimeTime Live. The grocery store chain sued ABC, and Mr. Mueller played a significant role at the 1996 to 1997 trial, which garnered a great deal of publicity and was a stepping stone to further significant cases in his career.
Mr. Mueller studied at the University of Michigan, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in the Honors Program, with a joint major in Political Science and Economics, with Highest Distinction, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence, cum laude, in 1982 and 1985, respectively. During college, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Delta Theta Phi. Following law school, Mr. Mueller was admitted to practice and became a member of the District of Columbia, Illinois, and Florida Bars.
Throughout his career, Mr. Mueller has been actively involved in numerous professional and civic groups. He current serves as Sergeant-at-Arms of the Academy of Florida Management Attorneys, where he has been a member since 2017 and will be President in 2027. Mr. Mueller's affiliations include the American Bar Association, the Michael R.N. McDonnell Inn of Court, the Southwest Florida Federal Court Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Miami-Dade County Bar Association, the Collier County Bar Association, the Collier County Women's Bar Association, and the Bar Association of DC (the voluntary bar of DC). He was a founding member of the BADC's Litigation Committee and later its Chair.
In addition to his professional commitments, Mr. Mueller is deeply involved in civic activities and community service. He currently serves as President and a Director of the Grey Oaks Estate Homes HOA, Inc, and was formerly the Secretary-Treasurer and a Director of the Brickell Heights West Condominium Association, Inc. and Brickell Heights Master Condominium Association (part of a 97-story mixed-use residential and commercial property in Miami). Mr. Mueller has long been involved with the National Parkinson Foundation South Florida, where he has served as a Host Committee member for "Wines on the Bay" (a fundraising event). He has taught and judged on a volunteer basis for the Georgetown University Law School-National Institute for Trial Advocacy advanced trial skills program (most years from 1997 to the present) and Georgetown University's National White Collar Crime Mock Trial Invitational. Furthermore, Mr. Mueller is a member of The University of Michigan Alumni Association, and was previously a member of the Board of Directors of The University of Michigan Alumni Association of Washington, D.C. He has also been active in the last 10 years with the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, and the National Center for State Courts (a nonprofit organization dedicated to driving innovation and progress in courts and justice systems).
Mr. Mueller's contributions to the legal field have been recognized with numerous awards. Early in his career, he received the Outstanding Committee of the Year Award from the Bar Association of D.C. in 1998. He has been named a Washington, D.C. "Super Lawyer" multiple times since 2007; The American Lawyer's "Litigator of the Week" in 2015; a Class Action MVP by Law360 in 2015; a Litigation Trailblazer by the National Law Journal in 2016; and recommended by the Legal 500 for Mass Actions and Class Actions-Defense in 2020. Moreover, Mr. Mueller holds an AV Peer Review Rating of 5.0 out of 5.0 from Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. Mueller attributes his success to influential mentors throughout his career, including Judge Avern Cohn of the Eastern District of Michigan federal court in Detroit, for whom Mr. Mueller served as a law clerk from 1985 to 1987. His high school debate experience, where he went to the Michigan State Finals in 1978, and his stage experience touring Poland and Romania in 1976 and 1978, respectively, with a song and dance group, played pivotal roles in developing his confidence and public speaking skills. Looking ahead, Mr. Mueller plans to practice law for several more years before retiring to pursue novel writing and lecturing on the law in Miami and Washington, D.C.
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