At
the peak of his career as a trial lawyer Michael Thorsnes retired
from the active
practice of law to pursue literary, political and related interests.
While
in law school at the University of San Diego, he was a St.
Thomas More Scholar,
a member of the Law
Review,
was
Student
Bar Association President
and formed and led an organization
comprised
of all the law students in California, to gain for law students the
ability to appear
in court as part of their training (68 Cal. Law Review). A trial
lawyer throughout
his
career, he twice received Outstanding
Trial
Lawyer
awards from the San Diego
Consumer
Attorneys’ Association and was elected to its Past
Presidents Trial Lawyer
Hall
of Fame.
For
the last two years
of his practice he was recognized as one of the “100
Most Influential Lawyers in
California”,
as determined by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily
Journals.
Continually
since 1990 he was elected to “Best
Lawyers in America”
in Business
Litigation
by his peers (Woodward Press). He received the Daniel
T. Broderick Award
for
Integrity, Professionalism and Ethics
in 2000 (selected by four San Diego plaintiff and defense lawyer
associations), the Author
C.
Hughes
Career
Achievement Award
from the
University of San Diego, as well as the Outstanding
Alumnus
Award
from its law school,
his alma mater.
He
has served as Vice-Chair
of the Board of
Trustees
at the University of
San
Diego, taught International
Litigation
at
Oxford
University,
as well as lectured there,
at the
College
of Law for England and Wales
in London, at Trinity
College
in Dublin, and
Universidad
PanAmericana
in Guadalajara. In 2007 he lectured at the University
of Paris
(Sorbonne),
the College
of Law for England and Wales
in London, and again at Oxford
University.
In
2008 he lectured at one of China’s leading law schools.
As
a lawyer, he represented both plaintiffs and defendants in all types
of cases, leading ultimately to a specialty in major business
litigation. He secured in excess of $250,000,000 in verdicts,
settlements awards for plaintiffs while also defending some of
California’s leading corporate entities. In his last case, he
served as lead counsel in the successful defense of a $2 billion
dollar claim brought and decided by the Public Utilities Commission
against Pacific Bell (now AT&T), the state’s largest employer.
In a career spanning three decades, he never lost a jury trial, and
but one court trial.
Thorsnes,
active in the Democratic Party since 1968, has worked at every level
on
numerous state and national campaigns, has served as a member of
former Governor
Davis’
Judicial Selection Committee in San Diego, and accompanied the
Governor during
his Official
State
Visit to Mexico.
Thorsnes has served as an Advisor
and Trustee
of the
Democratic
National Committee
(DNC) and has also served as a Trustee of the
Democratic
Leadership Council
(DLC). He has also been a member of the DNC
Jefferson
Trust
and the Majority
Trust
of the Democratic
Senate Campaign Committee
(DSCC).
He
is also active in Irish-American affairs through the American
Ireland
Fund. In 2000 he published “Poetry
To….”,
an anthology of
predominantly
Irish poetry under the pseudonym of Rowdy
O’Yeats,
and thereafter
became
and active, published poet in his own right. In the fall of 2003 he
completed
a six-week series as Rowdy
at
historic Enrico’s
in San Francisco, thereafter co-hosting a six-month poetry series at
Café
Prague.
In 2004 he was designated Poet
Laureate
of the Kerry Presidential Campaign. In 2005 he received the
American-Ireland
Fund Robert A. MacNamara Award for Literature and the Arts.
In 2008 he served
as the Judge of the Third
Annual Fish
Publishing
International Poetry
Competition
and was invited to deliver two lectures, including the Keynote
Lecture on Poetry
on the Theme of War at
the West
Cork Literary Festival
in Bantry Bay, Ireland.
Having
served as one of two Photographers for the Kerry Presidential
Campaign Thorsnes now works as an international professional
photographer, specializing in informal portraiture of the human
condition as found in thirty-five countries over the last
10
years. In 2009 he served as the Photographer for the West Cork
Literary Festival with work published by the Irish
Times.
In 2010 his photography was the subject of a five-week
Exhibition at the French Market Café in Venice Beach, California
entitled “The
Citizens of The French Market Café”.
In 2010 he further mounted an Exhibition entitled The
Face of Irish Literaturein
Ireland. He was described as a “renowned photographer” whose
work is “brilliant” by the Festival officials. Examples of his
work can be found at: www.picasaweb.google.com/353535v,
and on YouTube by searching his name. In 2010 he was designated as
being on of the Top
100 Irish-American Lawyers in the Country
and was awarded the Wild
Geese Award
by the Irish American Bar Association of New York for excellence in
accomplishments outside the practice of law.
An
avid horseman, he has competed nationally and internationally and was
twice a
member of the United
States Cutting Horse Team.
He is also a member of Rancheros
Visitadores,
an annual 750 rider trail ride started in the late twenties, on which
he is apparently
the only Democrat, and known, of course, as Rowdy.
Finally,
he served as the founder of the Mock Trial team and the Vis Moot
International Arbitration team of the University of San Diego, which
competes internationally in Vienna and Hong Kong, and annually hosts
a pre-moot competition attended by students from around the world. He
has received Emeritus status of the Board of Visitors of the
university for two additional annual awards: the Outstanding
Professor of Law (as voted on by the Dean and prior faculty
recipients), and the Thorsnes Prize for Excellence in Teaching (as
voted on by the students of the School of Law).
He
was the recipient of the Spirit
of Life
award by the Parkinson's Association of San Diego.
Thorsnes,
aged 76 is married, has two children and seven grandchildren, and was active in Parkinson's affairs.
