E. Powell Miller

About E. Powell Miller

Powell Miller has been recognized as one of the Top 10 lawyers in Michigan for seventeen consecutive years, from 2009-2025, by Super Lawyers Magazine, including being ranked number 1 or number 2 in certain years and in 2010, 2015, 2019, 2020,  2024, and 2025 he was the recipient of the Best Lawyers – Lawyer of the Year in the category of Bet-The-Company Litigation. In 2017, Mr. Miller was the recipient of the Judge Friedman and Cook Civility Award, which is awarded to only one lawyer each year. In 2024, he received the Professionalism Award from the Oakland County Bar Association. He has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America every year since 2005. Mr. Miller has earned Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating, AV^® Preeminent^™ 5/5.0 for legal ethics and ability and a 10/10 from AVVO a public rating system. Mr. Miller is also ranked as only one of nine in Michigan to receive the highest Band 1 rating by Chambers USA, describing Mr. Miller as a “superb trial lawyer” who “routinely acts for high-profile clients based across the [United] states.”

Mr. Miller focuses his practice on all aspects of litigation. He has been retained by many Fortune 500 and other clients to represent them in litigation throughout the United States, including in Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, California, Colorado, Indiana, and Illinois.

Representative Matters

Mr. Miller recently led the trial team and secured a significant victory in a closely followed defamation trial. After more than five years of litigation and a demand for tens of millions of dollars in damages, the court granted a directed verdict in favor of Mr. Miller’s clients immediately following plaintiff’s case-in-chief. Mr. Miller also previously prevailed in an arbitration against Compuware on behalf of Peter Karmanos receiving the highest of its kind arbitration result in Michigan history of $16.5 million and won every appeal from the award collecting every dollar.  Mr. Miller defended a consumer goods manufacturer against plaintiffs’ asserting complex price discrimination and antitrust claims and alleging millions of dollars in damages. Following a three-week trial and seven hours of deliberations, a California jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of Mr. Miller’s client. And the 9th Circuit upheld the verdict on appeal. Mr. Miller has an outstanding trial record of 18-0-1, has obtained verdicts in excess of $5 million, $10 million, and $23 million, and on the defense side, has never had a verdict against his client.

Mr. Miller has also obtained in excess of $10 billion in settlements for class members, consumers, and governmental entities. These settlements, including a $970.5 million settlement with AIG in 2015, are regularly among the largest settlements in Michigan and the United States.  Mr. Miller has extensive experience in every form of securities and shareholder litigation including shareholder derivative actions, securities fraud and shareholder oppression.

Community Involvement

Mr. Miller has previously served as Co-President of the Detroit Chapter of the Federal Bar Association Antitrust and Securities Committees. He also serves on the Executive Committee for the Wayne State University Law School Board of Visitors, has served a Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Procedures Subcommittee on class actions and multi-district litigation, and serves as a Master member of The Oakland County Bar Association Inns of Court.

In 2024, Mr. Miller taught the inaugural Class Actions and Multidistrict Litigations course at Wayne State University Law School. He has also previously lectured on securities litigation at the University of Michigan School of Law and also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Detroit Law School teaching trial practice.

Mr. Miller is a proud supporter of Wayne State University School of Law, Detroit Urban Debate League, a nonprofit that supports the creation of debate programs in under-served high schools; the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy; The Joe Niekro Foundation, which is committed to aiding in the research and treatment of aneurysm patients and families; and Charlotte’s Wings, a nonprofit that is dedicated to supporting ailing children in Southeast Michigan through donations of new books to the children and their families in hospital and hospice care.

Education

‍Mr. Miller graduated third in his class from Wayne State University Law School, magna cum laude, in 1986. He was named to the honor society, Order of the Coif, and he was an Editor of the Wayne Law Review. In 1986, Mr. Miller joined the Detroit law firm of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, where he was elected partner in 1990. In 1994, he formed his own firm.Mr. Miller has been recognized as a top debater in the United States. He won first place at the Harvard University National Debate Tournament as a freshman at Georgetown University. He also represented Georgetown in a special international debating exhibition against the Oxford Debating Union of Great Britain.

• University of Detroit Jesuit High School, 1979
• Georgetown University, B.A., 1983
• Wayne State University Law School. JD, 1986

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