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Mike Minton

Mike Minton

Senior Counsel

St. Louis
314 552 6081 314 552 6081 direct


  • OVERVIEW
  • INSIGHTS
  • NEWS & EVENTS

INDUSTRIES

PRACTICES

  • Education

    • University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law,

      J.D., 1978

      Board of Student Editors, Missouri Law Review

      Judge Roy W. Harper Award

      Guy A. Thompson Award

    • University of Virginia,

      A.B., English, 1975

  • Admissions

    • Illinois

    • Florida

    • Missouri

    • Missouri USDC, Eastern District

    • Montana USDC

    • US Ct Appeals, 6th Circuit (Covers KY, MI, OH, TN)

    • US Ct Appeals, 8th Circuit (Covers AR, IA, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD)

    • US Ct Appeals, 10th Circuit (Covers CO, KS, NM, OK, UT, WY)

    • US Supreme Ct

  • Affiliations

    • Federal Practice Committee

    • Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers

    • Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis

      Litigation Reform Task Force

    • Defense Research Institute

  • Representative Clients

    • R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company

    • Lorillard Tobacco Company

    • Gander Mountain Company

    • National Rifle Association

  • Recognitions

    • Named Lawyer of the Year for Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants in St. Louis by The Best Lawyers in America, 2018, 2020 (by BL Rankings)

    • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, 2009-2025 (by BL Rankings)

    • Listed in Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, 2005; 2010-2012; 2016-2017 (by Thomson Reuters)

    • Listed in Chambers USA, 2011-2015 (by Chambers & Partners)

  • Employment

    • Thompson Coburn LLP

      Partner, 1985-Present

    • Honorable H. Kenneth Wangelin, Chief Judge, United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri

      Law Clerk, 1978-1980

  • Community

    • Emergency Children’s Home (ECHO)

      Board of Directors, 1990-2001

    • Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (MICDS)

      Executive Council, 2006-2008

      Development Committee, 2006-2008

    • Jefferson Scholars Foundation, University of Virginia

      Regional Selection Committee, 2006-2009

      Regional Selection Committee Chair, 2009

    • Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, Ladue, MO

      Vestry Member, 2007-2014

      Junior Warden, 2011

      Senior Warden, 2012-2014

      Chancellor, 2015-2016

    • Angel Flight Central - Mission Pilot

  • Instruction

    • Lecturer, Defending Consumer Protection Class Actions, American Conference Institute, San Francisco, CA


      May 2007

    • Lecturer, Preventing & Defending Chemical Products Liability Litigation, American Conference Institute, Chicago, IL


      October 2006

    • Lecturer, National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel


      May 1993 and July 1993

    • Lecturer, “Defeating Complex Personal Injury Claims: Causation and Other Defenses,” MODL


      March 1991

Mike has extensive experience in complex litigation, including products liability, RICO, toxic tort claims, and contract disputes. He has tried as lead counsel numerous matters in state and federal courts involving a variety of substantive areas.

Mike's most significant first chair trials include United States v. Philip Morris et al., and In re Tobacco Litigation (IPIC). The former was a RICO case brought by the United States Department of Justice. That trial, which lasted nearly 10 months, was the subject of intense media coverage and has been called the largest civil trial in U.S. history. IPIC was a mass consolidation and approximately 600 individual personal injury cases, which ended in a defense verdict. Mike also has extensive experience in trying arbitration matters, including construction claims and securities claims. He was among the first to obtain multimillion-dollar arbitration awards stemming from the Texas savings and loan scandal. He has successfully managed many matters which required mastering technical and scientific issues in areas such as epidemiology, medicine, toxicology, statistics, mathematical modeling, and scientific survey methodology.

Over the past decade Mike has served as U.S. national counsel, on trial teams and as lead trial counsel in a variety of tobacco litigation matters, including cost recovery actions, personal injury cases, RICO cases, and other matters. He has also tried numerous other jury and nonjury cases spanning a variety of litigation practices and industries, including personal injury and product liability cases for global manufacturing and energy companies, commercial disputes involving trade secrets, business transactions and contract disputes, sales of businesses, and employment matters. He has served his global clients in a U.S. national counsel role.

Mike is a member of the Firm's Complex Litigation and Consumer Products Groups. He is the former Chair of the Firm's Diversity Committee and Co-Chair of the Technology Advisory Group. He was a member of the Firm's Management Committee from 2000-2016.

Publications

“How to Defend Against an Adverse Epidemiological Study, Part 1";
Toxics Law Reporter (BNA) 1092, 1989

“How to Defend Against an Adverse Epidemiological Study, Part 2";
Toxics Law Reporter (BNA) 1137, 1989

“Right to Jury Trial Under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act";
43 Missouri Law Review 250, 1978

“Criminal Procedure — Surgical Removal of Evidence";
43 Missouri Law Review 133, 1978

“Constitutional Law — Explicit Sex and the First Amendment";
42 Missouri Law Review 461, 1977