Michael Feldberg is head of the firm’s White Collar Defense Practice and has more than 40 years’ experience trying civil and criminal cases and leading litigation practices in major law firms. He has served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as the founder and long-time head of the U.S. litigation practice at Allen & Overy LLP, and as a partner and head of the litigation practice at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP.

Michael is a Fellow of The American College of Trial Lawyers and has tried over 50 cases during his career. He is ranked among the nation’s leading White Collar Defense and Commercial Litigation attorneys by Chambers USA, which describes him as “an all-star” with “great strategic judgement,” and a “wonderful lawyer who makes everyone around him a better lawyer due to his insights and vast experience.” The publication also noted “he’s incredibly smart, levelheaded, and a pleasure to work with.” Benchmark Litigation also recognizes Michael as a “Litigation Star” for his white collar defense experience.

Michael has represented financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies, judges, law firms, accounting firms, political figures, and senior executives across a broad range of complex disputes. His lead counsel experience includes high-profile matters involving antitrust, securities fraud, healthcare fraud, professional liability, and white collar defense. 

Recently, Michael was lead trial counsel on the winning team that secured a complete acquittal in a federal criminal trial against the Department of Justice (DOJ), in a case alleging that prices were fixed over an eight-year period in the $28 billion per year broiler chicken industry. The case stemmed from an indictment that charged 10 executives with criminal violations of the Sherman Act. The trial win earned Michael and the RJLF team, along with the other defense teams, The American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” first runners-up recognition, and the case garnered extensive national attention from major news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Reuters, Politico, and CNBC, among others. Law360 also featured a special Q&A profile with Michael due to the unprecedented nature of the three trials leading to the not guilty verdict.

Michael also maintains an active pro bono practice, including serving on the trial team representing the plaintiffs – families of victims of handgun violence – in Hamilton v. Accu-Tek, a two-month trial in the Eastern District of New York against all the major handgun manufacturers. His community activities include serving on the Boards of Directors of the 92nd Street Y and the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Leadership Council of Facing History and Ourselves, the Lawyers Committee of The Innocence Project, and the Dean’s Advisory Council of Harvard Law School.

Michael is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College. 

Representative Matters

• Defended Barclays Bank in multidistrict consolidated class actions in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that several major global banks, which were members of The London Gold Fixing Company, conspired to suppress the price of gold from 2004- 2012. With nearly $8 billion in potential damages at stake, Barclays—along with Scotiabank and Société Générale—agreed to a settlement among the three banks amounting to less than 1% of potential damages.

• The successful defense and acquittal of a poultry industry executive, a former Vice President of Pilgrim's Pride, in the third price-fixing trial in a federal criminal antitrust case brought by the DOJ, concerning an alleged scheme to fix prices and rig bids for chickens sold to grocery stores and restaurants. The not guilty verdict was announced in July 2022 after jurors deliberated for a day and a half, following a four-week trial before Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. This long-awaited victory follows two mistrials in December 2021 and March 2022 when jurors deadlocked after weeks of trial.

• Defending NatWest Capital Markets (formerly known as The Royal Bank of Scotland) in litigations arising out of Bernard Madoff securities fraud.

• The successful defense and acquittal of the CEO and Chairman of C.R. Bard, Inc. in a seven-week federal criminal trial in the District of Massachusetts alleging health care fraud.

• The successful defense and acquittal of Judge Hortense W. Gabel in a 14-week federal criminal trial in the Southern District of New York, United States v. Bess Myerson, Andy Capasso and Hortense Gabel.

• Representation of former Speaker of the New York State Assembly Sheldon Silver in the retrial of a federal criminal case in the Southern District of New York.

• The successful defense of a major international law firm based in New York in a trial in New York state court involving allegations of malpractice.

Rankings & Honors

• Chambers USA, White Collar Crime and Government Investigation (New York)

• Chambers USA, General Commercial Litigation (New York)

• Benchmark Litigation, White Collar Litigation Star

• Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America

• Best Lawyers in America, White Collar Criminal Defense

Notable Publications

• “What Is An Agreement? A Central, and Hard to Define, Concept in U.S. White Collar Criminal Law,” Chambers Expert Focus (October 16, 2023)

• “Governmental Entity Litigation,” chapter in treatise Commercial Litigation in the New York State Courts

• “The Right to Cross-Examine Government Witnesses: Crawford and Beyond,” chapter in treatise Defending Federal Criminal Cases