Prominent litigator Michael Hennigan retires

J. Michael Hennigan, who has been involved in some of the nation’s biggest antitrust and securities litigation of the last 50 years but might be better known as the man Cardinal Roger M. Mahony turned to when the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles first faced sex abuse litigation more than 20 years ago, has retired from practice, McKool Smith announced.

Hennigan, who turned 80 in November, was unavailable for an interview. Kirk D. Dillman, a partner with Mike Hennigan at Hennigan, Mercer & Bennett and, following a merger in 2011, at McKool Smith Hennigan said he was unsure “what the next phase will bring” for the litigator.

An avid horseman, Hennigan remains an owner of Quail H Farms, one of the nation’s largest producers of sweet potatoes.

Hennigan’s litigation skills are legendary but his presence — tall and patrician and always wearing a bow tie — commands the attention of any room he enters, even before he says a word; and he has never been one to bloviate.

Dillman said Hennigan’s listening skills have been key to his success.

“Most lawyers want to be heard. He saw the power of listening. As a result he was able to understand the witnesses and the jurors in ways that a lot of lawyers overlook,” he said.

Hennigan, who began his legal career in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Department, has handled more than 45 major jury trials in state and federal court and served as lead counsel in litigating judgments and settlements amounting to more than $8 billion for clients across a broad range of disputes, McKool Smith said.

“As an opponent, Mike was, as I have said to others, formidable, possessing a courtroom presence that was as smooth as warm butter — but not so greasy — and was able to present arguments with sharp intellect and high integrity. As a friend, Mike was an A+ for decades,” Ron Olson, of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, said in a statement issued through McKool Smith.

In the late 1980s, Hennigan represented shareholders in claims against The Walt Disney Company and legendary corporate raider Saul Steinberg after Disney purchased Steinberg’s 11% stake in the company at inflated prices to ward off a takeover — commonly called greenmailing. The case ended in a $45 million settlement, the first cash payment to end greenmailing claims.

In the 1990s, Hennigan and partner Jim Mercer represented Orange County in lawsuits against several securities companies, including Merrill Lynch & Company, after bad derivative investments plunged the county into bankruptcy. Their theory of the case was a broadened interpretation of the concept that securities brokers can sell only securities “suitable” for customers’ needs — an argument Hennigan acknowledged to the New York Times was “unique.”

They ultimately recovered $865 million from settlements with securities companies, including $400 million from Merrill Lynch, and law and accounting firms. The Merrill Lynch settlement set a record for securities cases.

After Enron Corp. collapsed in a heap of fraud in 2001, Hennigan represented institutional investors PIMCO, Aegon, Principal Asset Management, Oaktree Capital Management and AIG in several state court lawsuits. By keeping those cases out of coordinated proceedings in Texas, he was able to negotiate settlements that set records for securities cases.

In 2003, he won a $53 million verdict for Oaktree, TCW Group and Pacholder Associates on claims that investment bank CIBC World Markets knew when it underwrote bonds issued by Renaissance Cosmetics that sales of the cosmetic company’s products had performed poorly during the Christmas season. “They already knew they had had a disastrous Christmas. They were hoping for a miraculous March,” Hennigan reportedly told the jury.

“He has had an extremely varied career as a trial lawyer but the common theme running throughout this career is big, complex, difficult cases,” Dillman said.

One of his most difficult assignments was to defend Mahony and the Los Angeles Archdiocese against hundreds of claims of sexual abuse by priests dating back to the 1930s. Those types of cases were a departure from complex antitrust and securities cases on which Hennigan built his legal career. And while he was accused of being more interested in limiting the damage to the church, and particularly Mahony, he proved especially adept at quietly finding a solution to end the litigation. In 2007, the church agreed to pay a record $660 million to 508 plaintiffs, and apologized to those who had suffered the abuse.

Dillman said the church litigation, while “an enormously important job,” was “a calling” for Hennigan. “I think he has done enormously good work for the church and for the victims,” he said.

Dillman, who went to work for Hennigan straight out of UCLA School of Law, said he chose the firm because it was small but paid big firm salaries. But he quickly learned that it offered something far more valuable: Mike Hennigan’s leadership and mentorship.

“He has an extraordinary intellect. He sees all the pieces. He is very creative. And he has a knack for making the complex simple,” said Dillman.