Michael McNamara

Partner

2121 Avenue of the Stars
Suite 2800
Los Angeles CA 90067
TEL: 310.734.3240
FAX: 310.734.3300

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

For 16 years prior to joining Steptoe, Mr. McNamara served as founding and senior managing partner of McNamara, Spira & Smith, a litigation boutique in Los Angeles, where he gained valuable first-hand experience in the risk management of a law firm. Prior to founding his own firm, Mr. McNamara was a partner in the Los Angeles office of a prominent international law firm, where he worked on a variety of professional liability matters.

Drawing on nearly three decades as a senior trial attorney handling a wide range of litigation matters (see general biography with list of representative matters), Mr. McNamara has an invaluable perspective in his defense of professional liability cases for accountants and lawyers.

Representative Matters

Professional Liability

Served as lead trial counsel for a former partner of a large national law firm in defense of a malpractice/partnership dispute in the Los Angeles Superior Court. On the first day of trial, after granting our motion in limine to strike plaintiff’s damages expert and related proof of damages, the Court ordered the dismissal of the complaint. The action was settled on appeal, with the plaintiff paying a significant amount of defendants’ costs.
Served as lead trial counsel for a large national law firm in defense of a case including claims for malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and civil RICO. This action was originally pending in Superior Court in Orange County, but was removed to federal court in Santa Ana. Following removal, a motion to dismiss the civil RICO claims was granted.
Served as lead trial counsel for a large national law firm in defense of malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and civil RICO in federal court. After formally invoking Rule 11, plaintiff's counsel agreed to voluntarily dismiss our client without the payment of any consideration.
Served as lead counsel for a large national law firm in defense of claims by a “client” against a partner for sexual assault and battery in the Los Angeles Superior Court. This action was won by a motion to dismiss based upon proof of the plaintiff’s pre-litigation attempts to extort payments from the attorney.
Served as lead counsel for a former partner of a large accounting firm in defense of claims for fraud and malpractice brought by a former client involving alleged “tax shelters.” All claims were dismissed “with prejudice” by the San Francisco Superior Court.
Served as civil counsel for an indicted former partner of KPMG in the criminal action in the Southern District of New York based upon the Court’s ancillary jurisdiction over related civil claims. After the Circuit Court reversed the trial court’s assertion of ancillary civil jurisdiction, all related civil claims were successfully resolved in a different forum based upon a confidential settlement.
Served as lead counsel for a former partner of a large national accounting firm in defense of malpractice and fraud claims in the Los Angeles Superior Court. This action was successfully settled on the eve of trial.

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

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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