Michael McNamara

Partner

• mmcnamara@steptoe.com
• vCard
• Century City Office

Michael McNamara is a partner in the Century City office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, where he is a member of the Insurance Litigation Practice group. Mr. McNamara also serves as Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Professional Liability and Legal Malpractice Defense group.

Mr. McNamara is a senior trial attorney with experience handling a wide range of insurance litigation matters in a variety of forums, including state and federal courts, arbitrations, and mediations. Mr. McNamara also has significant “first chair” trial experience in a variety of diverse areas (see general biography for list of representative cases).

For 16 years prior to joining Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Mr. McNamara was the founding and senior managing partner of McNamara, Spira & Smith, a litigation boutique in Los Angeles. Prior to founding his own firm, Mr. McNamara was a partner in the Los Angeles office of a prominent international law firm, where he spent many years representing a number of carriers in a variety of “bad faith” and coverage actions around the country.

Representative Matters

Insurance Litigation

• Represented Aetna and its various subsidiaries in a variety of matters.  Such matters included advising local claims handlers on coverage issues, assisting the home office on the interpretation and analysis of policy provisions, and defending the insurer in a variety of actions. Among other cases, Mr. McNamara served as lead counsel for Aetna in the Monterey Hills Litigation. This was a highly complex litigation involving nineteen underlying property damage cases, three insurance-related cases, and out-of-state bankruptcy proceedings. The underlying actions involved dozens of parties, multiple forums, and great exposure for Aetna with $25 million of coverages at issue. Ultimately this litigation was resolved with Aetna contributing only $4 million of the $62.5 million “global” resolution.
• Represented Chubb (Federal Insurance) in defense of “bad faith” litigation in the Eastern District of Louisiana involving claims brought by the First National Bank of Louisville (FNBL) arising from a blanket fidelity bond.  Mr. McNamara was a key member of the team engaged on “remand” to handle the action after a $20 million bad faith verdict was reversed by the Fifth Circuit and remanded to the trial court.
• Represented other carriers, including Transamerica and Ohio Casualty, in defense of a variety of “bad faith” actions, Brandt Fee Claims, and provided claims advice on coverage matters.

Noteworthy

• Martindale-Hubbell “Preeminent AV” Peer Review Rating (5.0/5)
• Southern California Super Lawyers 2011, General Litigation
• Extern, Honorable Frank Richardson, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, 1981-1982

Select News & Events

• Southern California Super Lawyers Honors 14 Steptoe Attorneys
• Steptoe Advises on Acquisition of Retailer Hartmarx
• Prominent Litigators Join Steptoe's Century City Office

Professional Affiliations

• Member, American Bar Association’s Lawyer’s Professional Liability Consortium, 2011
• Member, Professional Responsibility and Ethics Committee (PREC), Los Angeles County Bar Association, 2011
• Member, Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL)
• Member, Board of Governors, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, 2010
• Member, American Bar Association, Litigation Section