A partner in the Paul, Weiss Litigation Department and Head of the Antitrust Litigation Practice Group, Bill Michael has extensive experience in antitrust litigation and plays a lead role in many of the firm’s most consequential antitrust engagements, including business-critical litigation, trials, appellate matters, and government investigations. Clients have described Michael as “an absolutely fantastic trial lawyer,” “enormously skilled,” “a great writer,” “a razor-sharp lawyer who . . . can think around corners,” and “an excellent oral advocate”
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers | 2026 | Antitrust Litigation, Government Investigations, Appellate |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2026 | Antitrust Litigation, Government Investigations, Appellate |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyers | 2025 | Antitrust Litigation, Government Investigations, Appellate |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2025 | Antitrust Litigation, Government Investigations, Appellate |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2024 | Antitrust Litigation, Government Investigations, Appellate |
| Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2022 | Antitrust Litigation, Government Investigations, Appellate |
Significant representations include:
- Intuitive Surgical, Inc. in securing a complete defense victory at trial in a high-stakes antitrust suit brought by Surgical Instrument Service Company, Inc., (SIS) alleging that Intuitive illegally tied the sale and service of its da Vinci surgical robots to the purchase of its EndoWrist instruments. Michael served as co-lead trial counsel in the three-and-a-half-week jury trial in the Northern District of California.
- News Corporation and certain subsidiaries in a class action involving claims of exclusive dealing and monopolization, as well as in multiple antitrust actions brought by competitors. Michael co-led a team that successfully defended News Corporation against such claims in a three-week jury trial in the Southern District of New York.
- Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) in antitrust litigation involving monopolization, exclusive dealing and bundled discount claims. Michael argued and won an appeal in the Seventh Circuit, affirming the dismissal with prejudice of a putative class action claiming that BD conspired with distributors of its products in violation of antitrust laws. Michael also helped BD obtain complete dismissal of a putative antitrust class action in the Northern District of Georgia; defeat a competitor’s claims of exclusive dealing and monopolization at a jury trial in the Eastern District of Texas; and reverse a judgment of liability and damages for attempted monopolization by deception in the Fifth Circuit.
- Mastercard in an antitrust action brought by OV Loop, a mobile wallet startup, alleging that Mastercard refused to grant OV Loop access to MDES (Mastercard’s tokenization service), which OV Loop claims is an essential facility.
- ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in a rate court litigation against the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC).
- Bumble Bee Seafoods in a putative antitrust class action and opt-out litigation involving claims of price fixing in the packaged seafood industry.
- Tribune Media Company in multidistrict antitrust litigation involving claims of price fixing in the market for the sale of local television advertisements.