Bio

Michael Warnecke provides battle-tested leadership in the largest and most complicated legal matters in the country involving government investigations, litigation and regulatory compliance. He serves as lead antitrust counsel to AT&T for its pre-close integration planning efforts in connection with its mergers and acquisitions, including managing AT&T’s parlor process and other “gun-jumping” compliance frameworks. Mike also leads the Akin Gump team in its representation of Trinity Industries in all aspects of the high-profile, high-stakes nationwide litigation and investigations against the company related to its ET Plus highway guardrail end-terminal systems. Mike has served AT&T as lead integration planning antitrust counsel for all of its recent significant transactions, including its acquisitions of Time Warner and DIRECTV and its sale of WarnerMedia to Discovery, Inc. The Time Warner merger was the largest corporate merger announced in 2016 and the fifth largest deal in recent years. The DIRECTV merger was the largest merger announced in 2014 to reach close. Mike also provides integration planning antitrust counseling to other companies during their most significant mergers and acquisitions as regulators around the globe address gun-jumping compliance with renewed focus. For example, Mike provided integration planning antitrust counseling to 7-Eleven in connection with its $21-billion acquisition of 3,900 Speedway convenience stores, the second largest deal announced in 2020 and the largest ever in the convenience store industry. The Trinity matters have included a federal and multiple state-equivalent False Claims Act (FCA) actions, a federal criminal investigation, purported class actions by government purchasers in three states and Canada, multiple purported securities class actions and derivative suits, numerous product liability cases across the country and a General Accounting Office review of the Federal Highway Administration, as well as other regulatory, congressional and media interest. Most notably, in September 2017, this representation of Trinity included obtaining, with co-counsel, a landmark win when, in a highly anticipated decision, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit overturned a $682-million judgment against Trinity in the federal FCA qui tam suit filed by a former competitor. This decision, upheld by the Supreme Court in January 2019, establishes critical precedent affecting an array of companies, industries and sectors that may face FCA suits in the future. In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued new guidance to prosecutors (the “Granston Memo”) about when to dismiss meritless FCA whistleblower qui tam lawsuits, citing Trinity’s 5th Circuit’s victory twice. For its successful collaboration with Trinity, Akin Gump was named a finalist for the inaugural The American Lawyer Industry Awards in the category of Best Client/Law Firm Team.