Michael (Mike) Murphy

As a trial lawyer, Mike Murphy defends corporations and individuals in complex civil litigation. And in selected commercial cases, Mike helps the firm’s corporate clients enforce their rights as plaintiffs, both in and out of court.

Mike represents clients in the defense of product liability (both agricultural and industrial), toxic tort (including alleged occupational exposures to silica, coal dust, asbestos, benzene and diatomaceous earth), medical malpractice, and other cases involving alleged serious personal injuries. Additionally, Mike represents businesses and individuals in complex civil litigation, including business disputes and cases involving trusts and estates.

Over the past 25 years, Mike’s trial practice includes the defense of product liability, toxic tort, medical negligence, and other actions involving alleged serious personal injuries in various venues across the country. Mike also prosecutes and defends complicated commercial cases.

In addition to his active litigation practice, Mike leverages his experience as an in-house attorney and as a partner at a large international law firm to counsel corporate clients and other professionals on how to avoid litigation.

Publications

In recent years, Mike has authored or co-authored a number of publications relating to trial practice and professionalism, including the following:

• “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Advocates,” MoBar Precedent, Fall 2012.
• “Expert Challenges After McDonagh: A Practical Approach, Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers Quarterly, September 2009.
• “Expert Challenges in Missouri Civil Cases After McDonagh,” Journal of the Missouri Bar, March 2008.
• A quarterly interview column focusing on trial practice and professionalism for the Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers.

Presentations and Speaking Engagements

• May 13, 2016, moderated a continuing legal education program sponsored by the National Business Institute entitled “What Civil Judges Want You to Know,” in which a panel of circuit and associate circuit judges shared their insights with the seminar participants.
• May 16, 2014, moderated a continuing legal education program sponsored by the National Business Institute entitled “As Judges See It: Top Mistakes Attorneys Make in Civil Litigation.”
• October 25, 2013, spoke on the subject of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Advocates” at the annual meeting of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.
• May 11, 2012, moderated a continuing legal education program sponsored by the National Business Institute entitled “What Civil Judges Want You to Know.”

Community Involvement

Outside of the practice of law, Mike is a former president of the Missouri Quarter Horse Association, and serves on the Board of Directors of the American Quarter Horse Association. Closer to home, Mike is a member of the Board of Elders at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, and serves on the Board of Regents for Saxony Lutheran High School.

Memberships

• American Bar Association
• Missouri Bar
• Texas Bar
• Supreme Court, State of Colorado
• Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
• Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers
• Defense Research Institute

Distinctions

• Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, 2006, 2008-2021
• Best Lawyers in America, 2023
• Received an AV peer review rating from the Martindale Hubbell law directory.
• Elected as a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation, an organization whose membership is limited to one-third of one percent of the lawyers in each jurisdiction.
• Elected as a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honorary society comprised of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers.
• Received the “Board Service Award” for work on the board of directors of the Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers in 2014.
• Received the W. Oliver Rasch Award from the Missouri Bar Association for the “outstanding article written for the Journal of the Missouri Bar” in both 1996 and 2009.
• Received the Purcell Professionalism Award from the Missouri Bar Foundation in 2020, which acknowledges “outstanding professionalism in a Missouri lawyer who has consistently demonstrated an exceptional degree of competency, integrity and civility in both professional and civic activities.”
• Former editor in chief of the Missouri Law Review.
• While in law school, received the Judge Shepard Barclay Prize, awarded annually to the “senior who has obtained the highest standing in scholarship and moral leadership.”

Contact Mike Murphy at 573.334.5722 or mmurphy@spencerfane.com.