About Michael White

Mike White began his legal career in Alaska, where he was appointed District Attorney of northwest Alaska, one of the largest geographical jurisdictions in the country. He prosecuted hundreds of cases and helped form the Alaska chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers after successfully prosecuting a man who killed two brothers while drunk. He later served as Assistant District Attorney in Anchorage and in 1982 was appointed to open a new District Attorney Office in Palmer, Alaska. In 1985 he was appointed to the bench by the Governor of Alaska, serving as a Judge for three years.

He then joined K&L Gates as managing partner of the Anchorage Office before helping found Friedman Rubin and White. He received his J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 1979 and his B.A. from UC Berkeley in 1976. He holds an AV Preeminent Martindale-Hubbell rating.

Proven verdicts and settlements at Friedman Rubin

These results are credited to Friedman Rubin. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.

A King County jury awarded $857 million in December 2023 to seven people, five former students and two parent volunteers, who said they were sickened by PCBs leaking from light fixtures at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington. The verdict included $73 million in compensatory damages and $784 million in punitive damages against Monsanto and its successor Pharmacia. In April 2024 a King County judge cut the punitive award to $365 million under Missouri's statutory cap on punitive damages, reducing the total to $438 million. Monsanto appealed, and Bayer said in February 2026 that Monsanto had settled the remaining Sky Valley jury verdicts on confidential terms, so what was ultimately paid is not public.

King County Superior Court, Seattle, WA · 2023Product LiabilityRead the full story →

A King County jury awarded $275 million to thirteen Sky Valley Education Center students and families who suffered neurological injuries from PCB-contaminated light fixtures manufactured by Monsanto.

King County Superior Court, Seattle, WA · 2022Product LiabilityRead the full story →

A King County jury awarded three Monroe, Washington teachers $185 million after finding that PCBs manufactured by Monsanto leached from fluorescent light ballasts at their school and caused permanent neurological injuries.

King County Superior Court, Seattle, WA · 2021Product LiabilityRead the full story →

A Clark County jury awarded retired Air Force veteran Michael Washington and his wife Josephine $104 million after finding that propofol manufacturers Teva Parenteral Medicines and Baxter Healthcare knowingly supplied oversized anesthetic vials that clinics routinely reused, spreading hepatitis C to patients.

Clark County District Court, Las Vegas, NV · 2011Product LiabilityRead the full story →
$100 millionVerdictTop 20 in Washington · #8

A King County jury awarded $100 million to four plaintiffs who suffered neurological, hormonal, and cancer-related illnesses after years of exposure to PCBs from defective fluorescent light fixtures at a Monroe, Washington school.

King County Superior Court, Seattle, WA · 2025Product LiabilityRead the full story →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Practice areas

Education

Northeastern University School of Law
J.D., 1979
University of California, Berkeley
Undergraduate, 1976

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of Alaska
State Bar of Washington

Other attorneys at Friedman Rubin

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Proven verdicts and settlements from other Anchorage firms

The Law Offices of David Henderson
The Law Offices of David Henderson
$22 Million Federal Judgment for Alaska Woman Whose Heart Infection Was Missed, Refusing the $400,000 Cap
Atkinson, Conway & Gagnon, Inc.
Atkinson, Conway & Gagnon, Inc.
$21.1 Million Settlement for a Woman Who Lost All Four Limbs After a Shingles Misdiagnosis
Banker Law Group, P.C.
Banker Law Group, P.C.
$3 Million Settlement After a State Trooper's U-Turn Caused a Seward Highway Crash
Barber & Associates, LLC
Barber & Associates, LLC
$300,000 · $1.2 Million Scaffolding Fall Verdict, With the Plaintiff Found 75 Percent at Fault
Cashion Gilmore & Lindemuth
Cashion Gilmore & Lindemuth
$2 Million Settlement for Alaska Prisoner Paralyzed by Spinal Infection After Six Days of Ibuprofen

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.