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Michael L. Rosenthal

Of Counsel

Washington +1 202 662 5448

  • About
  • Representative Matters
  • Credentials
  • About

    Michael Rosenthal is chair of Covington’s Transportation Practice Group.

    He has more than 20 years of experience providing strategic advice to help railroads and other clients in the rail industry address their most significant regulatory challenges, and representing them in a broad range of matters before administrative agencies, in federal courts, and in arbitration proceedings.

    Mike has represented clients in acquisition and control transactions; challenges to rates and practices; cases involving forced access to customer facilities, trackage rights agreements, and passenger railroads; abandonments; and nearly every major industry-wide rulemaking before the Surface Transportation Board over the past two decades.

    Mike has also advised and represented railroad and non-railroad clients in a wide variety of other transportation-related matters, including antitrust cases, bankruptcy proceedings, and claims involving discrimination against interstate commerce.

    Areas of Expertise

  • Practices and Industries
  • Representative Matters
    • Representing Union Pacific Railroad Company in industry-wide rulemakings regarding revenue adequacy, grain rate rules, and competitive access.
    • Represented TTX Company in obtaining reauthorization of its rail flatcar pooling authority and antitrust immunity before the Surface Transportation Board.
    • Represented the Association of American Railroads in the successful resolution of a challenge to industry practices involving charges for movements of empty tank cars.
    • Represented Union Pacific Railroad Company in defending railroad rules involving tank car loading practices.

    • Represented Union Pacific Railroad Company in preserving exclusive access to facilities in California, Missouri, and Texas.
    • Represented Union Pacific Railroad Company in obtaining the right to discontinue service over a rail line in Louisiana.
    • Served as special regulatory counsel to the Trustee of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railroad in connection with the railroad’s bankruptcy filing.
    • Represented Union Pacific Railroad Company in defeating efforts by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to impose monetary penalties relating to illegal drugs hidden on Mexican trains arriving at the U.S. border.
    • Represented Union Pacific Railroad Company in obtaining authority to operate a new railroad line in Texas.
    • Represented Union Pacific Railroad Company in defeating an electric utility’s challenge to an interchange commitment with a short line railroad.
    • Represented Union Pacific Railroad Company in defending the use of a coal rate circular.
    • Represented Union Pacific Railroad in its merger with Southern Pacific Railroad.   

    Areas of Expertise

  • Credentials
    Education
    • Harvard Law School, J.D., 1993
        • magna cum laude
        • Harvard Law Review, Executive Editor
    • Cornell University, B.S., 1990
    Bar Admissions
    • District of Columbia
    • New York
    Judicial Clerkship
    • Hon. Stephen G. Breyer, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, 1993 - 1994
    Pro Bono
    • Represented prisoners in appeals to the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fourth, and Sixth Circuit.
    Accolades
    • Chambers USA, Transportation (2009-2023)
    • Legal 500 US, Transport - Rail and Road (2017)
    • Best Lawyers in America, Transportation Law (2007-2022)    
    • Washington DC Super Lawyers, Transportation/Maritime (2012-2020)
    Memberships and Affiliations
    • Georgetown University Law Center, Adjunct Professor
    Previous Experience
    • University of Nevada, William S. Boyd School of Law, Assistant Professor (2000-2001)

    Areas of Expertise

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