McDermott Will & Emery partner Michael A. Pope has been selected to receive the 2012 Northwestern Alumni Association’s Merit Award from the Northwestern University School of Law.
This distinguished award is presented to those alumni who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in a profession or endeavor, thereby bringing honor to themselves and their alma mater.
As head of McDermott’s International Product Liability Practice Group, Mr. Pope focuses his practice on product liability and consumer fraud matters. He has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies in class action litigation, and has tried high-profile jury cases around the country for over forty years. He also maintains an active practice in alternative dispute resolution and is certified as a mediator and an arbitrator.
“We join Northwestern University in expressing enormous pride in Mike and in his many accomplishments, both inside and outside the courtroom,” said Lazar P. Raynal, partner and Firm-wide head of Trial at McDermott Will & Emery. “He continues to be one of our most highly regarded and nationally recognized lawyers for the outstanding commitment he shows to his clients, colleagues, and the younger lawyers who work with him. Mike is truly one of the nation’s preeminent lawyers and we are proud to call him our partner.”
Mr. Pope was named the Leading Products Liability Lawyer in Illinois by Who’s Who Legal in 2005, and was recognized in the 2011 and 2012 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation and mass tort litigation. He is also ranked in the 2011 edition of Chambers USA for being one of the leading lawyers in the field of litigation, and has repeatedly been honored as one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Illinois and as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators nationwide.
Mr. Pope is past president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association, the official liaison between practicing lawyers and the federal judges in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. He is also a former chairman of the board of trustees of the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. In addition, he is a past president of Lawyers for Civil Justice, a national coalition of corporations and trial lawyers interested in improvements in the civil justice system. In that role, he testified before the Federal Advisory Committee reviewing proposed rules changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure relating to electronic discovery.
Mr. Pope has also served as president of the International Association of Defense Counsel, the oldest professional association of trial lawyers practicing in the defense of civil litigation. He is a fellow of three peer review professional organizations of trial attorneys: the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is also a member of the Defense Research Institute and a former member of DRI’s Executive Committee. Mr. Pope is the founder and past president of the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, which makes grants to pro bono legal clinics throughout Illinois.