Michael Feldberg Honored with New York Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Law.com and the New York Law Journal have named RJLF partner Michael Feldberg a Lifetime Achievement honoree. The award was presented on September 3 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York, at the 2026 New York Legal Awards. In connection with the honor, the New York Law Journal published a profile of Michael's career.
Profile Highlights
Click to read the full profile.
Michael has tried more than 50 cases over nearly five decades of high-stakes civil and criminal litigation, and he has built litigation practices and trained trial lawyers throughout that time.
One recent matter reflects the scale of that work. The Department of Justice indicted 10 executives on Sherman Act charges over alleged price-fixing in the $28 billion broiler chicken industry. Michael represented retired Pilgrim's Pride executive Roger Austin and tried the case three times in federal court in Colorado. The first two trials ended in mistrials after the juries deadlocked. The third ended in a full acquittal. No lawyer had previously taken the Department of Justice to trial three times in a single antitrust case and won.
His record also includes representing Jeffrey Greenberg, former CEO of Marsh & McLennan, in a four-year matter involving the New York Attorney General that resolved in his client's favor. He defended Barclays Bank in the gold price-fixing class actions, where nearly $8 billion in claimed exposure resolved for less than 1%. He represented Credit Suisse in the Parmalat matter. In the federal corruption trial of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, his defense led to a successful appeal of the initial conviction. As litigation chair at Schulte Roth & Zabel, he defended the CEO and Chairman of C.R. Bard in a seven-week federal criminal trial in which the company pled guilty. His client was acquitted of all charges.
The profile also notes his standing in the market. Michael is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an honor held by fewer than 1% of the trial bar. Chambers USA sources describe him as an all-star with strategic judgment. Benchmark Litigation names him a Litigation Star, and Legal 500 ranked him in its top tier for commercial litigation in New York this year.
His pro bono record is substantial. Over the past six months, Michael led RJLF's New York team to three federal wins in immigration matters, each resulting in the release of a wrongfully detained individual. Working with The Legal Aid Society of New York, the team won habeas petitions in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. In one matter the court granted relief without a hearing. The work earned Michael and the team a 2025 Pro Bono Publico Award. Earlier in his career, in Hamilton v. Accu-Tek, he represented families affected by handgun violence.
Michael serves on the boards of The Innocence Project and the UJA-Federation of New York, and on the Dean's Advisory Council at Harvard Law School.
Read the full New York Law Journal profile here or visit Law.com’s website.