Michael Mihm’s unique trial practice focuses on plaintiff-side legal malpractice cases. The Best Lawyers in America® has five times named Michael as “Lawyer of the Year” in the field of Legal Malpractice Law–Plaintiff. Michael is one of the few plaintiffs’ attorneys in the United States to be certified as a specialist in legal malpractice law by The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. He brings malpractice lawsuits against some of the nation’s largest law firms involving some of the law’s most complex practice areas. Colorado Super Lawyers® magazine has since 2018 named Michael as one of Colorado’s “Top 100” lawyers. In addition to Legal Malpractice Law, Michael is included among The Best Lawyers in America® in the field of Commercial Litigation and Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiff.
Michael is a Past President of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the largest specialty bar organization in Colorado. Michael has been inducted as a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). He is a graduate of and remains active with the Trial Lawyer’s College®, an organization dedicated to teaching cutting-edge trial advocacy to civil plaintiff and criminal defense trial lawyers.
Michael is a co-founder of Ogborn Mihm, LLP. Michael represents clients in courtrooms nationwide.
Michael Mihm’s unique trial practice focuses on plaintiff-side legal malpractice cases. The Best Lawyers in America® has five times named Michael as “Lawyer of the Year” in the field of Legal Malpractice Law–Plaintiff. Michael is one of the few plaintiffs’ attorneys in the United States to be certified as a specialist in legal malpractice law by The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. He brings malpractice lawsuits against some of the nation’s largest law firms involving some of the law’s most complex practice areas.
Colorado Super Lawyers® magazine for many years has named Michael as one of Colorado’s “Top 100” lawyers. In addition to Legal Malpractice Law, Michael is included among The Best Lawyers in America® in the field of Commercial Litigation and Personal Injury Litigation-Plaintiff.
Michael has been inducted as a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). He is a Past President of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the largest specialty bar organization in Colorado. He is a graduate of and remains active with the Trial Lawyer’s College®, an organization founded by legendary trial lawyer Gerry Spence dedicated to teaching cutting-edge trial advocacy to civil plaintiff and criminal defense trial lawyers.
Michael is a student of the art of trial persuasion. He believes that every client has a compelling story, and he and his team use advanced investigation and trial techniques to discover and best tell the client’s story at trial. Michael understands that a client’s goals and objectives are paramount. Thus, we include the client in every major decision of the litigation process, remembering that the case is about the client, not about us.
Michael has prosecuted or defended hundreds of legal malpractice lawsuits, has tried many such cases to verdict, and has also served as an expert witness in many such suits. For many years (2005-2021) Michael served as managing editor of Lawyers’ Professional Liability in Colorado, 2018 Ed. (Michael T. Mihm ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 2018). This two-volume, 57-chapter treatise focused on lawyers’ professional liability and legal ethics issues.
Michael’s legal malpractice clients come from all walks of life, but most are businesspeople or companies. His legal malpractice cases usually involve underlying business transactions or lawsuits, often involving intellectual property disputes, patent law, securities, real estate, land use, mergers and acquisitions, estate planning, tax law, bankruptcy, and many other legal matters. Michael’s legal malpractice cases increasingly focus on patent law and other intellectual property matters.
Michael brings legal malpractice cases all over the United States; he is currently litigating or has recently litigated legal malpractice cases in state or federal courts in California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Utah, and Texas. His legal malpractice cases are often part of massive disputes with multiple lawsuits, arbitrations, and appeals filed in multiple jurisdictions, and he and his team pride themselves on working collegially with the lead counsel quarterbacking those multi-jurisdictional undertakings.
While most of Michael’s clients are businesses or businesspeople, Michael also handles non-business-related legal malpractice cases. For example, Michael and his colleague, Betsy Hyatt, represented pro bono a young man who was sentenced to life in prison at age 15 for a murder that he did not commit, and who, after 14 years in prison, was released from custody. Michael and Betsy sued the negligent criminal defense counsel on the young man’s behalf and recovered a confidential settlement.
Related to his legal malpractice litigation, Michael is often retained to represent lawyers in fee disputes with clients or among law firms, or in litigation related to law firm breakups or dissolution.
Other law firms routinely retain Michael to serve as a consultant or an expert witness related to professional ethics, conflicts of interest, fiduciary duties to clients, the existence of the client-lawyer relationship, the standards of care required of lawyers in litigation matters, or reasonableness of fees in litigation matters.
Michael also has a significant business and business tort litigation practice. Michael’s commercial and business tort litigation often involves claims arising from breach of contract, oppression of minority business owners, partnership disputes, theft of trade secrets, intellectual property disputes, computer fraud, and claims arising from breaches of fiduciary duty and other misconduct by company insiders. Michael also represents clients in select probate or inheritance litigation matters, usually involving large estates and usually at the request of probate lawyers when it appears that a matter is headed to trial. Michael routinely represents clients in the arbitration of business disputes.
Michael also represents clients in select catastrophic injury lawsuits. Michael is active with the American Association for Justice (AAJ), where he is part of the Leaders Forum, and a member of the Business Torts section and the Jury Bias Litigation Group.
Michael is a past President of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association (CTLA), an organization of approximately 1,300 plaintiff and consumer trial lawyers in Colorado. CTLA is the largest specialty bar organization in Colorado. Michael served as an officer of CTLA from 2010 through 2016 and continues to serve on the board of directors.
Michael is a past president of the Board of Directors of CLE in Colorado, Inc., the publishing and continuing education arm of the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations. He served for six years on the Board.
Michael is the past chair of the Lawyers’ Professional Liability Committee for the Colorado Bar Association. He also served for several years on the Executive Council of the Colorado Bar Association’s Litigation Section.
For several years, Michael served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, where he taught a course on law firm management and professional ethics titled “Private Law Firms.”
Michael was heavily involved with a multi-year initiative of a subcommittee of the Colorado Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee, in conjunction with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, that developed an online platform for Lawyer Self-Assessment. The Self-Assessment program is designed to help lawyers better serve clients, simplify lawyers’ professional lives, and help prevent malpractice claims and ethics complaints. Michael’s book on Lawyers’ Professional Liability provides much of the source material for the Self-Assessment program. This innovative program is among the first such programs in the United States.
Michael is active with the International Society of Primerus Law Firms. Michael is a former Chair of the Primerus Personal Injury Institute and for several years served on the Institute’s Executive Committee.
Michael writes and often speaks on trial practice, professional ethics, and malpractice prevention to lawyers and bar associations. He is the author of chapters on Rule 12 Defenses and Objections and the Colorado Uniform Arbitration Act published in Thomson Reuters’ Colorado Civil Forms and Commentary, 3d (Vols. 11-13) (Colorado Practice Series).
Michael grew up in rural Michigan and Oregon, the eldest of six children. Michael’s father was a building contractor, auto-mechanic, and sometimes a farmer. Michael’s mother was a licensed practical nurse. Michael worked his way through college and graduated with honors. While in college, Michael also served for a year as a missionary in the Republic of Indonesia, teaching English as a Second Language, where he met his future spouse, Nanette, then a law student, world traveler, and daughter of a senior Indonesian military officer and Member of Parliament.
Michael returned to the U.S., and Nanette eventually followed, where they married and focused on completing their education. In 1983, Michael and Nanette both graduated from the University of Southern California, with Michael obtaining his Juris Doctor degree from the USC Gould School of Law.
Michael began his legal career as an associate attorney with a banking law firm in Beverly Hills, California. In 1985, he moved his young family to Colorado, resolving to become a trial attorney, and soon became a trial partner in one of Colorado’s largest professional liability defense firms.
In 2003, Michael formed the boutique trial firm of Starrs, Mihm & Caschette LLP to focus on plaintiff-side legal malpractice litigation and commercial and business tort litigation. After Ms. Starrs and Mr. Caschette both became district judges, in 2012 Michael formed Ogborn Mihm, LLP, with Murray and Mike Ogborn. Michael served as the firm’s managing partner for many years.
Michael and Nanette have two grown children and three small grandchildren with whom they are enamored. Michael and Nanette’s daughter, Stefanie Mihm Albrecht, is a schoolteacher and graduate of the University of Southern California and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Michael and Nanette’s son, Nicholas Mihm, is an Emmy-nominated director and documentary filmmaker, and a graduate of the Arizona State University Herberger Institute Film School.
Michael and Nanette enjoy traveling with their children and grandchildren. They like to travel to remote and beautiful places within Indonesia and other places not often seen by tourists.
Co-Author with Nicole M. Quintana, “The Cutting Room Floor: Finding the Story in Complex Cases.” The Warrior, Spring 2020, pp. 37-43.
“Rule 12. Defenses and Objections,” 13 Colo. Prac., Civil Procedure Forms & Commentary, West’s Colorado Practice Series (3d ed. 2019).
“Former Rule 109, Uniform Arbitration Act, Section 13-22-201, et seq.,” 13 Colo. Prac., Civil Procedure Forms & Commentary, West’s Colorado Practice Series (3d ed. 2019).
Chapter 4, “Conflicts of Interest,” in Lawyer’s Professional Liability in Colorado, 2018 Ed. (Michael T. Mihm ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 2005-2018).
Co-Author with Nicole M. Quintana, Chapter 49, “Fundamentals of Legal Malpractice Litigation,” in Lawyer’s Professional Liability in Colorado, 2018 Ed. (Michael T. Mihm ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 2018).
Co-Author with Nicole M. Quintana, Chapter 50, “Causation and Damages in Legal Malpractice Litigation,” in Lawyer’s Professional Liability in Colorado, 2018 Ed. (Michael T. Mihm ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 2018).
Co-Author with Nicole M. Quintana, Chapter 51, “Common Law Legal Malpractice Claims,” in Lawyer’s Professional Liability in Colorado, 2018 Ed. (Michael T. Mihm ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 2018).
Co-Author with Nicole M. Quintana, Chapter 53, “Defense to Legal Malpractice Claims,” in Lawyer’s Professional Liability in Colorado, 2018 Ed. (Michael T. Mihm ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 2018).
“Thinking Like a Business Owner: Why it is Important to Your Legal Career,” 2017 Primerus Young Lawyers Section, Client Service Boot Camp, International Society of Primerus Law Firms, Law Vegas, Nevada (February 8-10, 2017).
“CTLA Teaches,” Trial Talk, Vol. 64, Issue 4, June/July 2015, at 5.
“New Lawyers: The Key to CTLA’s Future,” Trial Talk, Vol. 64, Issue 3, Apr/May 2015, at 5.
“New Lawyers: The Key to CTLA’s Future,” Trial Talk, Vol. 64, Issue 3, Apr/May 2015, at 5.
“Finding Our Moral High Ground,” Trial Talk, Vol. 64, Issue 2, Feb/Mar 2015, at 5.
“Look to the Future,” Trial Talk, Vol. 63, Issue 7, CTLA’s Special 60th Anniversary Issue, October 2014, at 5.
“Tip Of The Spear,” Trial Talk, Vol. 63, Issue 5, Aug/Sept 2014, at 5 (Remarks on Election as CTLA President, August 7, 2014).
“Avoiding Legal Malpractice in Interstate Trucking Cases,” The Lawyer’s Log Book, Vol. 1, No. 4, Oct-Nov 2011, at 32.
Co-author with L. Dolan, Chapter 6, “Legal Bases for Lawyers’ Liability for Malpractice,” Colorado Attorney’s Professional Liability Handbook (Robin L. Beatty ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 1999).
Co-author with L. Dolan, Chapter 7, “Common Law Legal Malpractice Claims,” Colorado Attorney’s Professional Liability Handbook (Robin L. Beatty ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 1999).
Co-author with L. Dolan, Chapter 9, “Liability to Third Parties,” Colorado Attorney’s Professional Liability Handbook (Robin L. Beatty ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc.,1999).
Co-author with L. Dolan, Chapter 10, “Conflicts of Interest,” Colorado Attorney’s Professional Liability Handbook (Robin L. Beatty ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 1999).
Co-author with L. Dolan, Chapter 11, “Damages for Injuries or Losses Caused by Legal Malpractice,” Colorado Attorney’s Professional Liability Handbook (Robin L. Beatty ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 1999).
Co-author with L. Dolan, Chapter 12, “Defenses to Legal Malpractice Claims,” Colorado Attorney’s Professional Liability Handbook (Robin L. Beatty ed., CLE in Colorado, Inc., 1999).
“Risks of Multi-State Practice of Law,” Whoops: Colorado Bar Association Malpractice Prevention News, April, 1999.
“Software Piracy and the Personal Computer: Is the 1980 Software Copyright Act Effective?,” IV Computer Law Journal 1971 (1983).
Speaker (with Clayton Wire), “Ethical Obligations of In-House Counsel,” Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), March 2022
Speaker, “One Is the Loneliest Number: Ethics of Associating with Other Counsel,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, Denver, Colorado (February 2021)
Trial Demonstration, “Cross-Examination of a Defendant,” ABOTA Masters in Trial Program, Denver, Colorado (November 2019).
“Avoiding Malpractice,” International Society of Primerus Law Firms Young Lawyers Conference, Denver, Colorado (March 2019).
Panelist, with Matthew T. Kirsch, Gerald D. Pratt, and Jessica Yates, “Ethics Opinions Update,” Colorado Bar Association Colorado Litigators’ Summit (October 2018).
Panelist, with Johannes S. Kingma (Atlanta), Ralph B. Levy (Atlanta), and Tamara F. Goodlette (Denver), “Master Class in Attorney Malpractice Mediations: Select Topics for the Expert,” 2017 ABA Fall National Legal Malpractice Conference, Colorado Springs, Colorado (September 2017).
“Pro-Active Management Based Regulation,” sponsored by the Office of Attorney Regulations Counsel, Colorado Bar Association (July 2017).
Faculty Member and Speaker, 2017 Primerus Young Lawyers Section, Client Service Boot Camp, International Society of Primerus Law Firms, Law Vegas, Nevada (February 2017).
“Simplifying Your Case to Win,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention, Steamboat Springs, Colorado (August 2016).
Panelist, with Nancy Cohen and Christopher Buckman, “Anatomy of a Legal Malpractice Claim: What Plaintiffs Look for and How to Defend,” Denver Bar Association (June 2016).
“Simplifying Your Case to Win,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Blockbuster Seminar, Denver, Colorado (January 2016).
“Rules of the Road for Protecting Clients and Preventing Legal Malpractice,” Colorado Bar Association Litigation Council, Denver, Colorado (November 2015).
“Ethical Pitfalls of Auto Accident Cases,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Blockbuster Seminar, Denver, Colorado (January 2015).
“Tip of the Spear,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention, Snowmass, Colorado (August 7, 2014)(remarks on election as CTLA President).
“Rules of the Road for Protecting Clients and Preventing Legal Malpractice,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention, Snowmass, Colorado (August 2014).
“Is it a Breach of Contract or a Business Tort? Why it Makes a Difference in Business Litigation,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention, Snowmass, Colorado (August 2013).
“Malpractice Prevention: Lawyers’ Duties to Prospective Clients and Non-Clients,” CLE in Colorado, Inc., Denver, Colorado (live and video web presentation) (June 2012).
Moderator and Program Planner, “Malpractice Prevention for Boutique Law Firms,” International Society of Primerus Law Firms (telephone and audio webinar) (November 2011).
“How to Avoid Legal Malpractice in Interstate Trucking Cases,” Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America Super Summit, St. Louis, Missouri (September 2011)
“Ten Things You Don’t Want Me to Find in Your File,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Blockbuster Auto Seminar, Denver, Colorado (January 2011).
“Legal Malpractice from a Plaintiff’s Perspective,” Colorado Bar Association and CLE in Colorado, Inc., Legal Malpractice Prevention Seminars, Denver & Colorado Springs, Colorado (January 2011).
Moderator and Program Co-Chair, “Beating Goliath: How CTLA’s Davids Took on One of the World’s Largest Corporations and Won,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention, Vail, Colorado (August 2010).
Moderator and Program Planner, “Hardball Tactics and Stupid Lawyer Tricks: Maintaining Civility in Litigation,” ABA Section of Litigation and ABA Center for Continuing Education (telephone and webcast seminar) (February 2010).
“Conflicts of Interest” and “Top 10 Ways to Get Sued or Grieved in Small Law Offices,” Utah State Bar Fall Forum, Salt Lake City, Utah (November 2008).
“Common Law and Statutory Legal Malpractice Claims,” Colorado Bar Association Preventing Legal Malpractice Seminars (January 2007).
Co-Chair and Moderator, Colorado Bar Association, Preventing Legal Malpractice Seminars (January – February 2006).
“Finding Insurance for Your Professional Negligence Claim,” Colorado Trial Lawyers Association Finding Insurance for Your Personal Injury Claim Seminar, Denver, Colorado (April 2005).
“Practice Management Software” and “Electronic Discovery” in “Overcoming Your Fears: Using Technology in Ligation Seminar,” National Business Institute, Inc., Denver, Colorado (March 2005).
Speaker and Moderator, “Advanced Trial Advocacy Seminar,” with M. Ewing, National Business Institute, Inc., Denver, Colorado (July 2004).
Speaker and Moderator, “Damages in Colorado Civil Trial Practice,” with D. Brown, National Business Institute, Inc., Denver, Colorado (March 2003).
Speaker and Moderator, “Damages in Colorado Civil Trial Practice,” with D. Brown, National Business Institute, Inc., Lakewood, Colorado (January 2002).
“Hiring and Firing Clients,” Colorado Bar Association, Tuesdays at the Bar (February 2001).
“Successfully Presenting the Complex Case to a Colorado Jury,” with M. Burg, National Business Institute, Inc., Denver, Colorado (January 2001).
“Restatement (Third) of Law Governing Lawyers: Malpractice Highlights and New Directions,” Colorado Bar Association Convention, Vail Colorado (September 1999).
“Recent Developments in Professional Liability Cases,” Colorado Bar Association and CBA/CLE in Colorado, Inc., Legal Malpractice Seminars (Jan-Feb, 1999).
“Preventing Legal Malpractice,” Boulder County Bar Association (December 1997).
“Fee Agreements and Client Communication,” Colorado Bar Association and CBA/CLE in Colorado, Inc., Legal Malpractice Seminars (January 1997).
“Legal Malpractice: Trends and Prevention,” Weld County Bar Association (November 1996).
Speaker with D. Breakstone, “Lawyer Liability Under the Restatement (Third) of Law Governing Lawyers,” Colorado Bar Association Convention, Vail, Colorado (September 1996).
Program Chair and Moderator, Colorado Bar Association and CBA/CLE in Colorado, Inc., Legal Malpractice Prevention Seminars (January-February 1996).
“How to Terminate the Attorney-Client Relationship Without Getting Sued,” Colorado Bar Association and CBA/CLE in Colorado, Inc., Legal Malpractice Prevention Seminars, Fort Collins, Colorado (February 1995).
Program Chair and Speaker, “Malpractice Prevention: Detecting and Handling Conflicts of Interest Issues in a General Practice,” Colorado Bar Association Convention, Keystone, Colorado (September 1994).
Speaker with H. Tucker, “Malpractice Prevention Tips for Elder Law Attorneys,” CBA/CLE in Colorado, Inc., 1994 Elder Law Seminar (June 1994).
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