Michael Collyard Selected to The National Law Journal Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Trailblazers List

Robins Kaplan LLP is pleased to announce that Michael Collyard has been named to The National Law Journal’s annual list of Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Trailblazers. This list recognizes innovative lawyers who are agents of change in their respective practice areas.

Michael Collyard serves as Chair of the firm’s Banking and Financial Fraud Litigation Group. Highly skilled in all aspects of litigation, he has successfully first chaired jury and bench trials, argued numerous dispositive motions, and taken and defended hundreds of depositions.

In November 2022, he served as lead trial counsel for Douglas A. Kelley in Kelley v. BMO Harris Bank, N.A., in which he secured a $563 million jury verdict – the largest jury verdict in Minnesota history. The case arose out of one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history involving former Wayzata fraudster Tom Petters. Petters was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison for fraud using accounts held at M&I Bank, which was acquired in 2011 by BMO Harris Bank. The jury found that BMO aided and abetted breaches of fiduciary duty by Petters and his cohorts in using an M&I checking account to launder nearly $74 billion in Ponzi scheme proceeds between 2002 and 2008.

Most recently, he served as co-lead counsel in securing a $28 million settlement for the Receiver for the Education Corporation of America (ECA), a for-profit education company, in a case against ECA’s former officers and directors for their alleged breaches of fiduciary duties.

Based on his achievements, Collyard was recently named “Attorney of the Year” by Minnesota Lawyer and a “Stand-out Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters. He has also been listed as a “Top Trademark Professional” by World Trademark Review 1000.

View Collyard’s Trailblazers profile here.