MICHAEL C. LYNCH

MICHAEL C. Lynch is chair of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP’s national Litigation Practice Group and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. His clients call on him to handle their most sensitive and high-profile matters, including public disputes valued in the billions of dollars as well as confidential negotiations and investigations. He is a trusted advisor and business partner to his clients, many of whom he has worked with for more than a decade.

Based in the firm’s New York office, Lynch has extensive trial experience, both from his days as a prosecutor in New York City under the legendary Robert Morgenthau and during his nearly two decades at Kelley Drye. He handles a broad array of complex litigation, including large commercial disputes, breach of contract, fraud, business competition, Lanham Act disputes, and consumer fraud class actions.

Lynch currently represents a large, privately held spirits company in the defense of its claims to the famous Havana Club trademark, which the Cuban government illegally seized in 1960. The brand and related case is one of the most significant U.S. Patent and Trademark Office cases in history and was profiled on 60 Minutes.

Other recent examples of Lynch’s litigation success include representing a global institutional investment firm in a successful 10 day arbitration hearing regarding claims by a former employee, which resulted in an arbitrator dismissing all claims and awarding claimant zero dollars from a demand of over $27 million; securing a complete defense verdict in a AAA arbitration for a sports and entertainment firm accused of copyright infringement and breach of contract relating to a children’s television series featuring star quarterback Cam Newton; settling a high-profile, complex business dispute for a leading video game developer against a former high ranking executive; successfully guiding a public institution client through an internal investigation and subsequent criminal prosecution of its former president; and defeating a false advertising class action filed against a video game developer accused of violating California’s false advertising and unfair competition laws in connection with the release of one of the most hotlyanticipated video game releases in history.

Lynch earned a BA from the University of Richmond, and a JD from Fordham University School of Law.

Married with three children, Lynch traces his Irish roots to counties Sligo, Cavan and Galway. He is a member of the Irish American Bar Association and the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.