Senior Counsel

Rick Braun

Overview

Rick Braun is a Senior Counsel in CMBG3 Law’s Michigan office and is licensed to practice law in Michigan and Illinois.

Rick has over 20 years of experience, including trial and lobbying experience, in products liability, environmental, toxic torts and asbestos litigation. He has practiced on National Coordinating Counsel teams for the asbestos litigation throughout his career and his experience includes representing and advising C-suite executives, in-house counsel, and insurers in litigation and risk management matters, in a wide range of industries.

Rick’s national asbestos litigation experience includes representation of manufacturers, suppliers, and premises owners through all phases of litigation including trial. His National Coordinating Counsel experience includes vetting, developing and managing expert witnesses and corporate representatives for his clients. Rick was liaison counsel for all defendants in the Michigan asbestos litigation and was a member of the Wayne County Asbestos Litigation Steering Committee. In addition, he was appointed to the State Bar of Michigan Civil Discovery Court Rule Review Special Committee, which rewrote the Michigan Court Rules related to discovery and pre-trial procedure. He currently serves as a case evaluator in Oakland County Circuit Court, sitting on both the General Liability and Product Liability panels.

Within the asbestos litigation, Rick has lobbied the Michigan Legislature successfully to pass Michigan’s Asbestos Bankruptcy Trust Claims Transparency Act, and testified before the Michigan House of Representatives Competitiveness Committee on House Bill 5456 related to disclosure of asbestos bankruptcy trust submissions.

Rick has also been involved in numerous professional organizations, including serving as the Vice Chair of the Marketing Committee for DRI Asbestos Medicine Seminar and as DRI for Life Committee Liaison for that conference. He also participates in three DRI committees, including the Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Committee, the Product Liability Committee, and the Litigation Skills Committee. In addition, he served as the Chair and Vice Chair of the Energy, Sustainability, and Environmental Law Committee for the Oakland County Bar Association.

His community involvement includes serving on the Board of Directors for the American Lung Association of Midland States, and serving as a Member of the City of Rochester Hills Brownfield Redevelopment Authority since 2016 and City’s Deer Management Advisory Committee since 2019.

Accreditations

Education

  • Harvard Law School, Executive Education, Harvard Negotiation Institute, 2015
  • Michigan State University College of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1999
  • Michigan State University, B.A. with honors, 1996

Admissions

  • Illinois
  • Michigan
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of michigan
  • U.S. District Court for the DIstrict of Minnesota

Honors

  • Top Lawyer in Product Liability by DBusiness, 2023
  • AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®
  • The Best Lawyers in America© (2018-2023)
  • Litigation - Environmental
  • Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants
  • Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
  • OCBA Frances R. Avadenka Memorial Award (2016)
  • Michigan Super Lawyers, Rising Star (2012-2014)
  • DBusiness® Top Lawyer in Product Liability (2012-2013)

In the Media

Presentations

  • "PFAS 102: BI Claims," National Forum for Environmental and Toxic Tort Issues (FETTI) Annual Conference (September 2022)
  • “PFAS – Michigan’s Experience and Outlook,” Perrin Conferences, Impact of PFAS on Environmental Litigation (January 2022)
  • "Are we Losing the PR Fight in Mass Tort Litigation? Large Verdicts, Group Dynamics, Jury Psychology, and Where We Can Go from Here," Environmental and Emerging Claim Manager Association (EECMA), Annual Conference (2021)
  • "Asbestos Medicine 101: Asbestosis and Other Cancers," DRI, Asbestos Medicine Seminar (2019)
  • "Coming Soon to a Drinking Water Source Near You: EPA Regulation of Perchlorate," National Forum for Environmental and Toxic Tort Issues (FETTI) Annual Conference (2018)
  • "WARNING: This Subject Contains a Discussion of Chemicals Known to Cause Cancer – Proposition 65 and Labeling Laws: Who Actually Benefits In the Age of Over-Warning?" Environmental and Emerging Claim Manager Association (EECMA), Annual Conference (2018)
  • “Take Home 101," DRI, Asbestos Medicine Seminar (2017)
  • "Homeward Bound: The Rise of Household Exposure Claims in Asbestos Litigation," Environmental and Emerging Claim Manager Association (EECMA), Annual Conference (2017)
  • "OCBA-U, Environmental Law," Oakland County Bar Association (2016)
  • "Take-Home Asbestos Cases: The Exposure Defense," National Forum for Environmental and Toxic Tort Issues (FETTI), Annual Conference (2016)

Publications