Michael is the founding and managing principal of Hiller, PC. He has built a career on fighting for his clients against large institutions, multi-national corporations, and state and local governments. And he has enjoyed extraordinary success.
In 2010, Michael was named to the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, two of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership to these organizations is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements. Fewer than 1% of U.S. lawyers have been accepted as members.
As a New York Insurance Lawyer, Michael Hiller Was Named Super Lawyer 2015
In addition, for the last five consecutive years, Michael has been named a Super Lawyer for the New York Metropolitan Area by Super Lawyers Magazine, a Thomson Reuters publication. As reflected on its website, “Super Lawyers” is a listing of outstanding lawyers who have attained an extraordinary degree of peer recognition for their professional achievements. For selection as a Super Lawyer, Michael and his career were evaluated by a series of research panels and industry professionals. This recognition reflects the outstanding results Michael has obtained in each area of his practice over the course of his career.
Hiller, PC Has Obtained the Largest Disability Insurance Verdict Ever
In the field of insurance law, Michael set the record in New York State in 2001 for the largest disability insurance verdict ever, and was the first lawyer in New York to obtain a verdict for bad faith denial of disability insurance benefits. In 2005, Michael pioneered the use of the RICO statute to prosecute claims for fraud and other misconduct by disability and other insurance carriers. Additional results include:
In land use, zoning, and construction litigation, Michael has taken on many of New York’s most powerful developers and institutions. And he has beaten them. Most recently, Michael brought a series of lawsuits and other proceedings on behalf of Pulitzer Prize Winning Authors, National Book Award Winners, Scholars, Academics and Preservationists against the City of New York and a group of trustees at the New York Public Library to challenge a development plan that threatened to disfigure the Central Branch of the New York Public Library, close two satellite branches, and exile more than 3 Million of its books to New Jersey. After 10 months of litigation against one of New York’s largest and most respected law firms, Michael persuaded the trustees to abandon their plan and restore all of the books to the Central Branch. In a case of national importance, involving a National and City Landmark, Michael obtained precisely the result HPC’s clients demanded. And he won in less than a year.
Michael also stopped multiple other construction projects based upon land-use, zoning and environmental violations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island.
Michael Also Practices as a New York Commercial Litigation Lawyer
Michael has also enjoyed tremendous success in business and commercial litigation. He regularly handles cases involving breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and other business torts. But Michael is particularly well known among lawyers for handling business litigations commonly referred to as “business divorces.” His successes in this area include:
Michael has also established himself as one of New York’s most impressive transactional lawyers. Among his many clients are the world’s largest nutrition and health coaching school, international apparel companies, and smaller businesses. Most recently, Michael represented a founding member of an up-and-coming news-gathering dot.com against his fellow shareholders who were attempting to exclude him and dilute his interests. Under circumstances that tracked those depicted in the film “The Social Network,” Michael prevented dilution, obtained his client’s reinstatement to his position as a founding shareholder and assisted in the company’s conversion to a C corporation in anticipation of a multi-million dollar private equity deal.
Michael Impressively Serves the New York State Supreme Court, Among Others
In addition to his work at Hiller, PC, Michael is:
Michael attended Union College (Schenectady, New York) where he graduated with Honors. A member of the Delphic Honor Society and the Dean’s List, Michael played wing forward for the College Rugby team and also served as Student Body President until he graduated in 1988. Following his graduation from Union, Michael attended American University, Washington College of Law (Washington, DC), where he graduated cum laude and was a member of the National Moot Court Team. While attending law school, Michael worked at night as a professional musician in clubs throughout Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland.
Areas of Practice:
Litigation Mediation & Arbitration Insurance (Policyholders only) Business & Corporate Land-Use, Zoning and Environmental Litigation (Opposition Work Only) and Executive Compensation Law.
Bar Admissions:
New York, 1992
U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, 1993
U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York, 1993
New Jersey, 1999
U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, 1999
Education:
American University, Washington College of Law,
Washington, DC,
Juris Doctor Degree, cum laude (1991)
National Moot Court Team
Union College, Schenectady, NY USA,
B.A. History with High Honors and Distinction
Dean’s List
Delphic Honor Society
600 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022
212.319.4000