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.

James N. Sinunu specializes in toxic tort and environmental matters, and has tried a variety of cases throughout the state of California. His clients have ranged from computer manufacturers, chemical distributors, and foreign mining corporations to dairy farmers, local contractors and public entities. His practice includes product liability, insurance coverage, residential and nursing home care litigation, hospitality practice, construction defect, and commercial law. He regularly serves as an arbitrator, mediator, and judge pro tem.

Mr. Sinunu has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer since 2005 and is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

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 lawyer’s 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 was a long-standing member of the Board of Directors 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 at 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.