The best way to describe Michael Avenatti would be with the phrase “legal mercenary”. The California native is an attorney who always seems to be embroiled in some of the hottest legal wrangles of the past decade. The controversial attorney has served clients suing heavyweights from Fortune 100 companies and top celebrities to the NFL and top corporate executives.
Avenatti has often appeared on international shows, magazines and newspapers offering his expertise on various legal issues. The entrepreneur lawyer, who is also a professional runner, may be best remembered for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in his lawsuit against President Donald Trump.
Michael Avenatti, Biography, Education
The attorney was born in Sacramento, California on February 16, 1971. Prior to his high school years, Michael John Avenatti had recorded stops in Colorado and Utah. In the early 80s, young Michael and his family finally moved to St. Louis, where he attended Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield, Missouri. The young boy went on to earn a degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania, after which he enrolled in law school at George Washington University. In 2000, he earned a Doctor of Laws (JD) degree at the top of his class. For his exemplary contributions to George Washington, the institution established the Michael J. Avenatti Award for Excellence in Pre-Trial and Trial Case Defense in 2003. Ten years after his graduation,
Michael Avenatti has had a long career as a lawyer and a businessman. At the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington, he worked for Rahm Emanuel at a firm dedicated to political opposition research. By the time he had finished law school, the aspiring lawyer had put his knowledge to use for hundreds of political campaigns ranging from party to party.
After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked at O’Melveny & Myers, representing the likes of Christina Aguilera, as well as Frey and Henley of The Eagles. While working at Green Broillet & Wheeler, a boutique law firm, he handled several cases surrounding names such as Paris Hilton, Donald Trump and professional services firm KPMG.
Since establishing his own law firm in 2007, Michael has worked as lead counsel in a series of high profile cases. Among these were the whopping $454 million verdicts against Kimberly-Clark and Hayward Health in early 2017.
Five years after founding his law firm, Avenatti entered the entrepreneurial spirit with the creation of Global Baristas. His first assignment was to buy Tully’s Coffee, a small chain of cafes spread across Seattle. He partnered with Grey’s Anatomy’s Patrick Dempsey buys Tully, but the two fell out shortly after their purchase, resulting in Avenatti settling Dempsey. The company has been involved in the legal reshuffle since 2015, however, the daring attorney would win one of the biggest cases of his career by his jury’s decision against the NFL the same year.
In 2017, law firm Michael Avenatti filed for bankruptcy, due to a case brought against them by an ex-con named Gerald Tobin, who claimed private investigator status. This trend continued the following year with over $10 million in bankruptcy cases.
Since 2018, Michael Avenatti has represented cases which have garnered extensive international coverage. In March 2018, the lawyer was the adult actress, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump, with whom she claimed to have had an affair in 2006. Six months later, he represented Julie Swetnick, the third woman who had a sexual misconduct allegation against Trump’s choice for Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.
Michael is also taking the time off court to pursue his love for all things racing. Between 2010 and 2018, he competed in over 30 professional-level race car competitions, such as the American Le Mans Series, the Unites SportsCar Championship, at some of the biggest race tracks in America and Europe. Europe.
Family, parents and wife
Avenatti thrives on pressure and danger. This trait dates back to his early childhood, when his father would take him to race tracks. The speed, crashes, fear and ever-present danger of the whole experience appealed to young Michael and formed the basis of his training in life.
As a child, his family moved around a lot due to his father’s position as an executive at Anheuser-Busch. A few years after settling permanently in Chesterfield, his father was made redundant. Not much is known about Michael’s parents other than the fact that neither of them graduated from college. Michael also has two half-siblings from his mother’s previous marriage.
Michael Avenatti met his first wife Christine Avenatti-Carlin when he was 21. They were together during his time at the University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University, and his first after-school job as a junior associate at O’Melveny & Myers.
After separating from Christine, he married Lisa Storie, a businesswoman in her own right. She holds an MBA and owns a clothing company, Ikaria Resort Wear Company. Michael and Lisa lived lavish lifestyles and owned enviable properties, including a swanky $14,000-a-month apartment in Los Angeles.
In 2017, Lisa filed for divorce, but got it back. A few months later, Michael filed for divorce, which ended their union. They still remain friends.
Net value
Michael is supposed to be sitting on a bass drum and given his job and reputation, he’s always picked the biggest case, which isn’t surprising.
In his legal career, the attorney has won over $1 billion in judgments for his clients. Many records put his net worth at $20 million. Given that the contingency fee resulting from a judgment is usually one-third of the transaction fee, it’s little wonder then that others think the attorney is worth more.