HarrisMartin's California Asbestos Litigation Conference Speaker Profiles

Stephen Nichols is at his professional best when advocating on behalf of clients in complex product liability and mass tort litigation. As a trial attorney, he partners with clients to develop innovative approaches to case handling. His 30 years of jury trial experience enable him to recognize the challenges clients face, and to respond by providing detailed preparation that addresses the impacts on the client’s business. His work consists of developing case-handling and trial strategies that focus on the details that are important to jurors and not on what might have been presented in other similar cases. His approach is to provide a logical and precise presentation of facts and arguments, with the goal of obtaining the desired results.

Mike Armitage is a partner at Waters, Kraus & Paul and is the managing attorney for the Los Angeles office. Admitted to practice in both California and Louisiana, Mike began his career practicing maritime transportation and commercial law, but has focused on personal injury and product liability cases since joining the firm in 2000. Mike oversees the firm's litigation practice in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and his work on asbestos-related cancer cases has resulted in some of the firm's most notable verdicts. He serves as a liaison counsel on Bench-Bar Committees for both asbestos and complex litigation issues before the Los Angeles County Superior Court, and he is invited several times each year to serve as a co-chair or speaker at national seminars and conferences on asbestos and mass tort litigation. Mike earned his bachelor's degree from Tulane University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He went on to graduate cum laude from Tulane Law School as well, where he was selected to the Order of The Coif, served as a member of the Moot Court Board, and participated as a senior fellow in the university’s legal research and writing program. Born in Surrey, England, Mike is a member of the American Association for Justice, Public Justice Foundation Board, Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles Board of Governors, Consumer Attorneys of California, and he is also a proctor member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States. Mike is also active in the local community and serves on the Board of Trustees of Vistamar School. Mike has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® from 2006 to 2010 (Copyright 2009 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.) that appeared in Los Angeles magazine. He has also been recognized on the Thomson Reuters Southern California Super Lawyers® list in the Los Angeles Times 2006 to 2014.

Mr. Tigerman is certified as a trial specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), which is the most prestigious trial lawyers group in the nation. He has for many years been a member of the faculty of both the University of San Francisco School of Law's Intensive Advocacy program and the Stanford University Law School Advocacy program. He was a member of the Board of Governors for the Consumer Attorneys of California and is currently a long-standing member of the Board of Governors of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and he has an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale Hubbell—which is the highest rating available from that organization. He lectures on trial practice and seminars across the nation. Since 2004, he has consistently been selected as a Northern California Super Lawyer.

Mr. Tigerman has obtained many multi-million dollar verdicts. He has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for his clients. He has successfully tried cases involving defective products, premises liability, auto accidents, medical malpractice, and of course asbestos-related injuries.

Christopher Bruni has defended contractors, employers, distributors, retailers and manufacturers in asbestos and toxic tort litigation for over 20 years. He has litigated matters involving diseases such as lung cancer, mesothelioma, colon cancer and ARDS. Early in his career, Mr. Bruni assisted in the successful defense of a Midwestern heavy equipment manufacturer against claims brought by its employees under Labor Code Section 3602(b)(2), the Johns-Manville exception, for the use of alleged cancer causing solvents in the manufacturing process. Since that time he has tried numerous asbestos cases, including a five-month, multi-plaintiff jury trial that resulted in two defense verdicts for his client. Mr. Bruni also participated as co-counsel in a four-month trial in Alameda County for an automotive parts distributor. At the close of the plaintiff’s evidence, Mr. Bruni brought a motion for nonsuit which was granted by the trial court.

Additionally, Mr. Bruni specializes in automobile manufacturer and dealer litigation. He began his practice in the automotive arena representing a Detroit automobile manufacturer in warranty litigation, obtaining a defense verdict in his first trial in 1986. He has since tried cases for both manufacturers and dealerships involving claims brought under the Song-Beverly Act, the Magnuson-Moss Act, the CLRA and Business and Professions Code Section 17200. For over seven years Mr. Bruni was statewide counsel for all dealerships insured by DaimlerChrysler Insurance in California. In the past twenty years he has mediated, handled and arbitrated over 400 cases on behalf of automobile manufacturers and dealerships. Mr. Bruni is the author of the Auto Law blog providing analysis and discussion on legal issues impacting auto dealers and manufacturers nationwide: http://autolaw.typepad.com

Mr. Bruni has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer for five consecutive years.