J. Michael Hennigan

A founding partner of the firm, he helped broker a $660 million settlement in the nation's largest clergy abuse litigation involving more than 500 victims. Though it marked the largest single payout by a U.S. archdiocese since 2000, it also saved the Catholic Church from financial bankruptcy and ended one of the biggest scandals in the church's history. But while Henningan has settled that litigation, he remains embroiled in thorny proceedings over which church documents will be made public or kept confidential. Hennigan is widely credited with helping to usher in massive reforms inside the church that created new procedures to prevent future sex abuse.