Michael Miarmi

Michael Miarmi is a partner residing in the firm’s New York office. He devotes his practice almost entirely to representing individual and institutional investors in direct or class cases asserting claims under the federal securities laws or state law. Among his current responsibilities, Michael is a member of the team serving as co-lead counsel for the proposed customer class in In re Bank of New York Mellon Corp. Foreign Exchange Transactions Litigation, seeking to recover losses arising from The Bank of New York Mellon’s alleged misconduct in connection with executing foreign exchange (FX) transactions on behalf of its custodial clients.

Michael also serves on the team working as co-lead counsel for the proposed class in Arkansas Teacher Retirement System v. State Street Corp. , arising from State Street’s alleged FX-related misconduct. Michael is also a member of the team serving as co-lead counsel for a proposed class of shareholders asserting claims under the federal securities laws against LINN Energy, LLC and others, based on defendants’ alleged misconduct in overstating key financial metrics, which artificially inflated the price of the subject securities and resulted in significant losses to investors.

Additionally, for the past several years, Michael has played a central role in representing The Charles Schwab Corporation and several of its related entities in litigation arising from alleged fraud by some of the world’s largest financial institutions in setting the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR) . Schwab’s cases are included as part of a large multidistrict litigation pending in the Southern District of New York.

Michael was also a member of the Lieff Cabraser teams that represented Schwab entities, as well as (with other counsel) the New York State Common Retirement Fund and other state pension funds, in securities litigation arising from Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch . Michael previously helped represent BlackRock and Nuveen funds in securities litigation arising from the massive fraud at Tyco International Ltd . Those cases settled on terms favorable to Lieff Cabraser’s clients.

Michael has been, and currently is, involved in significant securities cases before the United States Supreme Court. He served as counsel of record on behalf of amicus curiae National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys (NASCAT) in Erica P. John Fund, Inc. v. Halliburton Co., et al., No. 09-1403, presenting NASCAT’s arguments to the Supreme Court in support of plaintiff regarding the standard for class certification in “fraud-on-the-market” securities cases. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in plaintiff’s favor. Michael currently is a member of the team representing the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi before the Supreme Court in Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi v. IndyMac MBS, Inc., et al., No. 13-640, in which the Court will address whether the rule set forth in American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah applies to suspend the operation of the three-year time period in Section 13 of the Securities Act of 1933 during the pendency of a putative class action.

Michael has published articles on salient issues in securities litigation: See Michael J. Miarmi and Nicholas Diamand, “Fraud-on-the-Market in a Post-Amgen World,” Trial, Nov. 2013; Steven E. Fineman and Michael J. Miarmi, “The Basics of Obtaining Class Certification in Securities Fraud Cases: U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies Standard, Rejecting Fifth Circuit’s ‘Loss Causation’ Requirement,” Bloomberg Law Reports, July 5, 2011.

Michael has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a “New York Metro Rising Star” from 2013 through 2018.

He received a B.A. in History, with honors, from Yale University, and received a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law.

Published Works

•Co-Author with Steven E. Fineman, “The Basics of Obtaining Class Certification in Securities Fraud Cases: U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies Standard, Rejecting Fifth Circuit’s ‘Loss Causation’ Requirement,” Bloomberg Law Reports, July 5, 2011

Honors and Awards

•“Rising Star for New York Metro,” Super Lawyers, 2013-2018

Past Employment Positions

•Milberg Weiss LLP, Associate, 2005 - 2007

In the News

•March 29, 2018
Three Lieff Cabraser Attorneys Selected for Law360’s Practice Group Editorial Advisory Boards
•March 2, 2017
Lieff Cabraser Attorneys Join Law360 2017 Editorial Advisory Boards
•April 25, 2016
Lieff Cabraser Attorneys Speak on Mass Tort Med School and Consumer Class Actions
•December 10. 2015
Michael Miarmi to Discuss Fraud-on-the-Market Theory