Of Counsel
A native of Warsaw, Poland who moved to the United States and learned to speak English before graduating from Columbia Law School and becoming a civil trial lawyer, Michał Zapendowski brings an international perspective to his law practice.
He is fluent in four languages – English, Spanish, French and Polish. Michał has represented financial institutions, businesses and individuals in a wide variety of civil disputes, with a focus on complex commercial litigation in the $1 million plus range.
Experience
Michał practices on both sides of the courtroom, representing plaintiffs and defendants more or less equally. He has won three settlements in excess of $10 million that each netted at least two-thirds of the amount collected to the client. When representing defendants, the largest claim he has faced was for $1 billion in a matter arising out of the 2008 financial crisis.
Representative Clients
Michał’s practice is in Dallas, but his clients are scattered across the United States. Mr. Zapendowski has represented top Dallas hedge fund manager Highland Capital Management, L.P. (in numerous disputes), NexBank SSB, Saipan-based Bridge Capital LLC and Sunset Management LLC, Phoenix-based Master Developer Northeast Phoenix Partners, Idaho-based Blackhawk Capital Management LLC, and numerous other successful businesses and individuals.
Representative Matters
- Multiple complex commercial disputes in the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of New York, the Delaware Superior and Supreme Courts, and other venues;
- Successfully obtained compensation for an individual who co-owned a winning lottery ticket in a dispute that focused on forensic electronic investigation, including the forensic recovery of a deleted text message that led directly to a successful settlement;
- Successfully obtained compensation for clients in two eight-figure legal malpractice suits against top “white shoe” law firms in Chicago and Phoenix (one of which began with a cost-of-defense settlement offer from the defendants, and ended with an offer for more than thirty times that amount);
- Successful defense of a legal malpractice action, resulting in dismissal or summary judgment on all claims;
- Successfully obtained compensation for two victims of complex inter-state frauds, one of which had apparent ties to organized crime, and the other of which was under active investigation by the FBI;
- Participated, as litigation counsel, in the successful resolution of a complex multimillion-dollar tax dispute between a high-net-worth individual and the IRS, which culminated in both a successful settlement with the IRS, and a successful settlement with the tax advisor.
Education
- Columbia University School of Law, J.D.
- Brown University, B.A., magna cum laude.
Bar Admissions
- State Bar of Texas
Other Interests
Michał has completed land journeys across five continents and more than fifty countries, covering more than the length of the equator, over land, during his lifetime. He has been everywhere from the Arctic to Ushuaia, Alaska to Tokyo and in between, has eaten tarantulas in Cambodia, introduced Tex-Mex to a town in Siberia, taught Ugandans how to make potato pancakes, and been poisoned in Zanzibar. Each year at the stroke of midnight on January 1st, he greets the New Year with friends and family in twelve different time zones.