PRACTICE AREAS
– Commercial and Business Litigation
– Personal Injury
– Internet Cybersecurity
– Data Privacy Law

BIOGRAPHY
Michael Finkelstein is a partner with Sternberg, Naccari & White, LLC, where he advocates for businesses and individuals facing contentious legal issues in the areas of commercial litigation, insurance disputes, and catastrophic personal injury claims.

In his legal career, Michael has provided comprehensive representation to businesses and individuals across a wide array of settings in courtrooms, arbitrations, and before administrative bodies. He has handled cases in trial and on appeal in state and federal courts. His breadth of experience has brought him to handle cases involving breaches of contracts, insurance bad faith claims, property damage, dangerous and defective products, real property disputes, construction fraud, injured victims of serious collisions, workers injured in accidents on land or at sea, personal information lost or stolen in data breaches, First Amendment and media law issues, public records law, election law, and toxic tort class action claims, among other areas.

In his free time, Michael enjoys adventure travel, music festivals, and all things outdoors.

PUBLICATIONS
Your Firm Needs a Tech Philosophy
67 LA Bar Jnl. 252 (2019)
Co-authored with Scott L. Sternberg

Prescription Interrupted by Timely Filing Suit in Federal Court: Arnouville v. Crowe
64 LA Bar Jnl. 315 (2016)

Recent Development: Kelly v. State Farm
63 LA Bar Jnl. 292 (2015)

Fifth Circuit Clarifies the Chandris Temporal Requirement for Seaman Status
63 LA Bar Jnl. 226 (2015)

An Overview of Data Breach Litigation in Louisiana and a Look Into Its Uncertain Future
63 LA Bar Jnl. 106 (2015)
Winner of the 2016 LSBA Stephen T. Victory Memorial Award

Survival Actions Subject to Prescriptive Rather than Peremptive Period
62 LA Bar Jnl. 141 (2014)

The Summary Judgment Changes That Weren’t (contributed footnotes)
Hon. Lee H. Rosenthal
43 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 471 (2012)

Illusory Arbitration Agreements: It Takes Two to Arbitrate
25 Tex. App. Advoc. 24 (2012)

Sackett v. EPA: Drowning the Agency Enforcement Scheme
LSU Energy Law Currents (2012)

The “Flavor” of Arbitration: Disclosure and Confidentiality Under ADR Agreements
60 LA Bar Jnl. 150 (2012)

Obamacare On Your Plate: How the ACA Can Bring About Healthier Living in America
Tasty25 Magazine (2012)

Competitive Bargaining Delays 2011-2012 NBA Season
59 LA Bar Jnl. 360 (2012) 
(also published on mediate.com)

Mediation, Compromises Save 2011-2012 NFL Season
59 LA Bar Jnl. 195 (2011)
(also published on mediate.com)

CLE PRESENTATIONS, TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES, AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Build Your Own Stack — Using Tech to Make Your Firm Smarter (2019), American Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division Fall Conference

Idea Exchange, Use of technology in Legal Practice (2019), Build Your Brand: Young Lawyers Conference, Louisiana State Bar Association, Young Lawyers Section

Fundamentals of Local Personal Injury Procedure (2018), National Business Institute (NBI)

Ethical Considerations Relating to Evidence and Records (2018), National Business Institute (NBI)

Privacy Lawsuits – Guest Lecturer (Spring 2018), Law of Mass Communications, College of Arts and Sciences, Loyola University, New Orleans

Confidentiality Issues with Technology (2017), National Business Institute (NBI)

Information Technology 101 (2017), National Business Institute (NBI)

Avoiding Malpractice Mistakes (2017), Panel organizer and panelist discussing topics of legal malpractice, client engagement and disengagement, information security, and cloud computing, New Orleans Bar Association, Young Lawyers Section

Economics of the Practice of Law and Law Firms – Guest lecturer (Fall 2017), Intermediate Microeconomics, College of Business, Loyola University, New Orleans

Privacy Law and Private Lawsuits – Guest lecturer (Fall 2017), Law of Mass Communications, College of Arts and Sciences, Loyola University, New Orleans

Avoiding Malpractice Mistakes: What Every Young Lawyer Should Know, Panelist discussing topics of legal malpractice, data security, and cloud computing (2016), New Orleans Bar Association, Young Lawyers Section

Adam, Eve, and the Creation of Tort Law: A Comparison of American and Israeli Products Liability Laws (2016), Partnership Together initiative of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans

Data Breach Litigation and Data Security for the Government Attorney (2015), Louisiana State Bar Association, Government and Public Law Section

Red Rover and Scrambled Eggs: Data Security Basics for Your Business (2015), New Orleans Lawyers Meetup