Vis, David E.

Michael P. Verna is a 1975 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude) and a 1978 graduate of Hastings College of the Law. An experienced trial attorney with an extensive record of accomplishment, Mr. Verna enjoys an A.V. rating from the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory (highest rating), and has been certified as a Civil Trial Advocate by the ABA accredited National Board of Trial Advocacy (“NBTA”) since 1986. He was formerly an instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and was long ago elected by his trial lawyer peers to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (“ABOTA”), San Francisco Chapter. He has also been selected as a Diplomate with the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys (product liability emphasis); as Senior Counsel with the American College of Barristers; as member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum; and as Charter Fellow with the Litigation Counsel of America Trial Lawyer Honorary Society. Mr. Verna is regularly listed in Best Lawyers of America and Super Lawyers of Northern California, (top 5% of lawyers) and been profiled as “Top Lawyer” in Oakland Magazine, San Francisco Magazine, and the San Francisco Business Times.

Listed in a number of different Who’s Who publications for his successes as a trial lawyer, Mr. Verna’s practice focuses on mass disaster aviation accident litigation, with an emphasis on international accidents involving commercial jetliners, general aviation aircraft, and helicopters. As a recognized expert in aviation crash litigation, Mr. Verna has authored legal articles on issues of interest in aviation law and been a guest speaker at several prestigious aviation law conferences (including for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the European Air Law Association, the American Bar Association Air and Space Law Committee, and the American Association for Justice Aviation Law Section).

Mr. Verna’s successes for his clients are often record breaking, both in obtaining exceptional settlements or verdicts and also in effecting changes in aircraft design and operation with the governing authorities as a result of litigation pressures on the defense. He is personally responsible for having obtained over $250 million in verdicts and settlements for his clients over the last ten years, with the $63 million settlement for Filipino victims of the crash of an Air Philippines Boeing 737 being the most recent example. When he started his practice over 30 years ago, Mr. Verna represented aviation manufacturers and airlines, so has particularly keen insights into the tactics employed by aviation defendants and their lawyers. Since 1999, he has represented air crash victims exclusively, and his clients have benefitted mightily from those insights. He has been counsel for victims of almost every major aviation accident in the world over the last several years—his litigation practice spans the globe, with clients represented from every continent in the world.