Michael L. Slack focuses on the most challenging and demanding areas of civil litigation, including aviation law and products liability cases against major U.S. corporations. A licensed pilot and former NASA aerospace engineer, Slack combines his technical knowledge and skills with his extensive litigation and trial experience for the benefit of his clients.
His legal experience includes more than 35 years of litigating and trying lawsuits arising from catastrophic airplane and helicopter accidents, including the commercial air crashes of American Airlines Flights 331, 587 and 1420, American Connection Flight 5966, and Continental Flight 1404. He is recognized as a national expert and safety advocate for stronger federal oversight to improve aviation safety, especially in the realm of air ambulance helicopter operations.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Slack was a senior aerospace engineer at NASA, where he worked on the Apollo-Soyuz and Space Shuttle programs where he developed a program to optimize shuttle ascent flight loads. In 2002, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics named Slack an Associate Fellow, a unique honor for an attorney. He also serves on the advisory board for the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. In 2014, he received the Outstanding Aerospace Engineer Award from the department.
Slack is a civil trial advocate certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and is certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in personal injury trial law. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 1995, in Super Lawyers since 2003 and was selected as a Top 100 lawyer in Texas by Super Lawyers in 2012 and 2014.
He received his law degree from The University of Texas School of Law and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M.