Michael Sacchet

Partner with Ciresi Conlin LLP

Michael specializes in complex civil litigation, including multi-district litigation. Involved in all aspects of the case, Michael excels at briefing, oral argument, and cross-examining expert witnesses.

Michael has briefed and argued discovery, dispositive, pre-trial, and post-trial motions in federal and state district courts across the country. He has also drafted appellate briefs and/or argued before the United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth and Eleventh Circuits, Minnesota Supreme Court, and Minnesota Court of Appeals. Notably, Michael was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee and named Chair of the Law, Briefing, and Legal Drafting Committee in MDL 2885: In re 3M Combat Arms Earplug Products Liability Litigation—the largest MDL in American history. A four-member panel appointed Michael to both positions after reviewing nearly 200 applications from attorneys across the country and listening to 64 presentations over a 2-day period. As Chair of Law & Briefing, Michael briefed and argued cross-motions for summary judgment on 3M’s global preemption defense. The MDL court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and denied 3M’s cross motion on the government contractor defense, allowing over 200,000 cases to proceed to trial. In addition, Michael defeated numerous Daubert and other dispositive motions in MDL 2666: In re Bair Hugger Forced Air Warming Devices Products Liability Litigation. As a result of the arguments that Michael briefed and argued in the Eighth Circuit, nearly 6,000 cases against 3M were reinstated after the district court erroneously excluded plaintiffs’ general-causation experts and dismissed the MDL.

Michael has also co-tried numerous cases to verdict, including five bellwether trials in the 3M Earplugs MDL. Obtaining more than $200 million in verdicts in less than a year, Michael never lost a 3M Earplugs trial and helped secure the largest multi-plaintiff verdict ($110 million) and the largest single-plaintiff verdict ($77.5 million) in the MDL.
Finally, as a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, Michael frequently presents CLEs on mindful lawyering. He also leads meditation practice groups for lawyers and the public. Please contact Michael to learn more about those opportunities.
Prior to joining Ciresi Conlin, Michael served as a law clerk to Judge Diana E. Murphy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and to Judge Philip S. Gutierrez of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before law school, Michael served as a Teach for America Corps Member in East Palo Alto, California.
Michael graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, argued and wrote award-winning briefs in the Ames Moot Court Competition, and received numerous dean’s scholar prizes for outstanding academic work. He graduated first in his class from Northwestern University, where he was honored with the Top Grade Point Average Award as well as the Best Legal Studies Undergraduate Thesis Award.

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