Current Employment Position(s)

Managing Partner

Lawyer Overview

Michael Slack specializes in the most challenging and demanding areas of personal injury law. These include aviation law, mass tort litigation, and product liability cases against major U.S. corporations. He is board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate, as certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.

In recognition of his excellence in representing clients, he has been selected by his peers to the The Best Lawyers in America directory for the past 10 years. In 2002, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announced that Slack had been elected to the grade of Associate Fellow. He is one of a handful of attorneys elected to this grade by AIAA's peer-review committee. AIAA is the world's largest professional society devoted to engineering and science in aviation, space and defense.

Slack's aviation law experience includes 22 years of complex litigation arising from air crashes, including successful litigation against major commercial airlines. In addition, he has successfully obtained recoveries in numerous product liability cases against major aircraft and component manufacturers. For more about Slack's aviation law expertise, please see our Aviation Law page.

A Powerful Voice

Beyond his aviation law practice, Slack is known for his successful representation of people injured by pharmaceutical and medical products. Between 1993 and 1996, he obtained compensation for more than 30 plaintiffs seriously harmed by tainted L-Tryptophan nutritional supplements. He also served on the National Plaintiff's Steering Committee for Norplant litigation, in which he represented hundreds of women, and negotiated approximately 60 cases involving patients who received faulty hip implants manufactured by Sulzer Orthopedics.

A Consumer Advocate

Slack is widely respected for his public sector work on behalf of consumer rights. He was the 1997 President of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA), and serves on the Board of Directors for TTLA. He has worked actively with the Texas Legislature through TTLA to protect individual legal and consumer rights.

Slack is a member of many prestigious legal associations and national, state and county bar associations. In addition, he has served as chair of the Aviation Law Section for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He is a member of the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Astronautical Society.

After receiving his law degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Slack was admitted to the bar in 1983. Prior to his legal career, he was senior aerospace engineer with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Houston, working from 1974 to 1980 on the Apollo-Soyuz and Space Shuttle programs. He received special commendations from NASA for his contributions to those projects. Today, he remains licensed as a professional engineer and as a pilot.

Areas of Practice

• Aviation Law
• Personal Injury Law
• Mass Tort Litigation
• Product Liability
• Corporation

West Practice Categories

Litigation & Appeals, Aviation Accidents -- Defense, Personal Injury -- Plaintiff, Products Liability Law, Aviation

Bar Admissions

• Texas, 1983
• U.S. Federal Court, 1984

Certification/Specialties

• Personal Injury Trial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
• Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate, National Board of Trial Advocacy

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA), 1997 (President)
• Texas Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) (Board of Directors)
• TTLA (Texas Legislature)
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Aviation Law Section (Chair)
• Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association (Member)
• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Member)
• American Astronautical Society (Member)

Honors and Awards

• The Best Lawyers in America
• Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), 2002

Past Employment Positions

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Houston, Senior Aerospace Engineer, Apollo-Soyuz and Space Shuttle Programs, 1974 - 1980

Education

• The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas, 1983
  J.D.
• Texas A& M University
  Bachelor's Degree
  Major: Aerospace Engineering
• Texas A& M University
  Master's Degree
  Major: Aerospace Engineering

Address

2705 Bee Cave Road
Suite 220
Austin, TX 78746

Phones

(512) 795-8686

Faxes

(512) 795-8787

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.slackdavis.com (Slack & Davis)
http://aviation.slackdavis.com (Slack & Davis aviation site)