Michael B. Carlinsky is an American trial lawyer who serves as global co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, one of the world’s largest litigation-focused law firms. Over the course of his career, Carlinsky has secured more than $4 billion in verdicts, arbitration judgments, and settlements on behalf of clients.

Carlinsky’s practice includes high-profile criminal defense, white-collar crime, and corporate crisis management. He has been involved in prominent cases arising from the 2008 financial crisis, major merger disputes litigated in the Delaware Court of Chancery, international corruption investigations connected to Brazil’s "Operation Car Wash", and high-profile criminal and regulatory matters in the United States. His work has received professional recognition from legal industry publications, including repeated Band 1 rankings from Chambers USA and induction into Benchmark Litigation’s Hall of Fame.

Michael Carlinsky was raised in Brooklyn, New York, in a lower-middle-class household. He attended public schools and has said that his family faced financial hardship during his childhood. Carlinsky has said that his early experiences influenced his approach as a trial lawyer, including how he develops legal arguments and relates to judges and juries.^[1]

Carlinsky earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Susquehanna University in 1986, graduating cum laude. He received a Juris Doctor from Hofstra University School of Law (now the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University) in 1989 and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1990.^[2][3]

Carlinsky began his legal career in 1989 as an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where he worked for four years.^[4][5] In 1993, he joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, becoming a partner in 1997. During his time at Orrick, he focused on complex commercial litigation.^[4]

In 2002, Carlinsky joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which at the time had approximately 140 lawyers.^[6] He was among the founding partners responsible for establishing the firm’s New York office, which had officially opened in 2001 with a small group of attorneys.^[1][6] As of 2024, Quinn Emanuel has expanded to over 1,100 lawyers across 35 offices worldwide, with the New York office becoming the firm’s largest.^[1]

Carlinsky served as managing partner of Quinn Emanuel’s New York office before being named Global Co-Managing Partner in 2022, alongside William Burck. Following this transition, John Quinn became the firm’s chairman. Carlinsky also serves as Global Head of Complex Litigation and Co-Chair of the firm’s insurance litigation practice.^[7][2]

Carlinsky has received professional recognition for his litigation work. In 2025, Benchmark Litigation inducted him into its Hall of Fame, an honor reserved for lawyers with long-standing careers and significant achievements. He has also been named to Benchmark Litigation’s list of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America annually for more than a decade.^[8][9]

Chambers USA ranks Carlinsky in Band 1 for General Commercial Litigation, citing client commentary that highlights his courtroom presence and stature as a trial lawyer. In 2022, he was named General Commercial Litigator of the Year by Benchmark Litigation and was a finalist for the New York Law Journal’s Attorney of the Year award.^{[10][11][12][9]}

During his tenure, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan was been named the “most feared” law firm by BTI Consulting Group for four consecutive years. During this period, the firm reported strong financial performance, including profits per equity partner exceeding $9 million in 2024, up from approximately $8.6 million the prior year. Quinn Emanuel also reported revenues surpassed $2 billion in 2023.^[1][13][9]

Carlinsky has recovered more than $4 billion in verdicts, arbitral awards, and settlements on behalf of his clients.^[2]

In 2022, Carlinsky represented Ambac Assurance Corporation in a case against Bank of America and its subsidiary Countrywide, resulting in a $1.84 billion settlement. Reached five weeks into trial in New York Supreme Court, the settlement was among the largest recoveries by a private party in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) litigation.^[14][15]

The case stemmed from the 2008 financial crisis and involved more than a decade of litigation, including two appearances before the New York Court of Appeals and seven before the Appellate Division, First Department. Following the settlement, Carlinsky and his co-counsel were named “Litigators of the Week” by The American Lawyer.^[14][15]

Carlinsky also represented AIG in a $10 billion fraud lawsuit against Bank of America and its affiliates related to AIG’s purchase of residential mortgage-backed securities.^[2]

In 2020, Carlinsky represented Mirae Asset Management in a high-profile case before the Delaware Court of Chancery concerning the terminated $5.8 billion acquisition of a hotel portfolio from Strategic Hotels & Resorts. The court ruled in favor of Mirae, finding that the seller had breached contractual obligations and engaged in deceptive conduct. The decision, which allowed the buyer to withdraw from the deal, was later upheld by the Delaware Supreme Court.^[2][16]

Carlinsky served as lead trial counsel for C3 AI in a Delaware federal court case involving claims of securities fraud under Rule 10b-5 and common law fraud related to a merger transaction. Following a two-week bench trial, the court issued a complete defense verdict, which was later affirmed on appeal.^[2][17]

More recently, Carlinsky successfully defended Centerview Partners against claims totaling approximately $500 million.^[9]

Carlinsky’s practice has increasingly focused on high-profile criminal defense and white-collar matters. In 2024, as co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel, he oversaw a team led by partners Alex Spiro and Luke Nikas that represented actor Alec Baldwin in an involuntary manslaughter case related to a fatal shooting on the set of the film Rust. The case was dismissed with prejudice after the judge ruled that prosecutors had willfully withheld key evidence.^[18][19][20]

Also in 2024, Carlinsky’s team represented Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, in litigation against the Internal Revenue Service following the unauthorized disclosure of Griffin’s confidential tax information. The case arose from what was described as the largest known data breach in the agency’s history. The IRS issued a public apology to Griffin and other affected taxpayers. Griffin did not seek monetary damages; the lawsuit aimed to hold the agency accountable and prompt improvements in data security.^[20][21][22]

Carlinsky has developed a substantial practice representing Brazilian and other South American companies in litigation and internal investigations. He served as lead counsel to JBS S.A. the world's largest meat producer; its controlling shareholder J&F Investimentos S.A.; and the Batista brothers in connection with a landmark bribery settlement arising from Brazil’s Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato) corruption investigation. The matter involved allegations that company executives paid tens of millions of dollars in bribes to Brazilian government officials to secure financing.^[2][23][24]

He also represented the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Banco BTG Pactual in an internal investigation concerning allegations of corruption involving the bank’s former chief executive officer. Following a four-month investigation that included a review of more than 430,000 documents, the committee concluded that there was no credible evidence to substantiate the allegations.^[25][26]

In August 2024, Carlinsky authored a letter on behalf of CrowdStrike responding to threatened litigation by Delta Air Lines following a global software outage that the airline said caused an estimated $500 million in losses. The letter disputed Delta’s allegations of negligence and stated that CrowdStrike’s chief executive officer had personally offered assistance to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, which the letter said went unanswered. Carlinsky wrote that “Delta’s public threat of litigation distracts from this work and has contributed to a misleading narrative that CrowdStrike is responsible for Delta’s IT decisions and response to the outage.”^[27][28]

In the early 2000s, Carlinsky represented internet music company MP3.com in multiple copyright infringement actions brought by major record labels in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, taking two of the cases to trial. He also obtained a precedent-setting injunction in the case of DoubleClick v. Henderson, filed in New York Supreme Court, involving allegations that former employees had misappropriated trade secrets.^[29]

Beginning in 2005, Carlinsky represented American International Group (AIG) in a complex, multi-front dispute with its former chief executive officer Maurice Greenberg and affiliated C.V. Starr entities concerning more than $1 billion in insurance business. The litigation included multiple proceedings in New York state court, where Carlinsky prevailed on three injunction motions. All sixteen related matters were ultimately resolved through a global settlement.^[30]

He also represented Washington Mutual, Inc. in multiple actions in bankruptcy and federal district courts against JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation arising from the 2008 failure of Washington Mutual Bank, one of the largest bank failures in U.S. history.^[31]

Carlinsky has supported legal education through philanthropy. He is listed on the Honor Roll of Donors at Hofstra University, his alma mater, and Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. He has also been recognized in connection with fundraising efforts at Fordham University School of Law.^{[32][33][34][35]}

Through his firm, Carlinsky has been acknowledged as a supporter of the Historical Society of the New York Courts.^[36]

• 2008 financial crisis

• List of largest law firms by revenue
• Litigation
• Operation Car Wash

• Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
• Residential mortgage-backed security
• Rust (2024 film)
• White-collar crime