Michaelis Montanari & Johnson

Serving our clients since 1984, Michaelis, Montanari & Johnson is located in Westlake Village, California- a suburb of Los Angeles. With a diverse practice focused on the defense of matters in civil litigation, our attorneys are committed to providing experience and personal service to our clients at a fair and reasonable price.

A member of the California State Bar since 1966, Jim was rated "AV Preemenint 5.0" by Martindale-Hubbell. He was the founding partner of Michaelis, Montanari, & Johnson. In 1962, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Stanford University. In 1965, he graduated from Berkeley Law of the University of California.

Duffy Buchanan is Of Counsel to Michaelis, Montanari & Johnson. He specializes in the defense of aviation accident cases. From 1972 through 1978 he was a United States Naval Aviator and Jet Flight Instructor. He has practiced in the areas of pharmaceutical and medical devices, toxic torts, products liability, insurance defense, business litigation, intellectual property and medical and dental malpractice.

John obtained his undergraduate degree from UCLA in 2001 and his Juris Doctor degree from Whittier Law School in 2007. He is a member of the United States District Court for the Nothern, Eastern, Central, and Southern Districts of California. Prior to joining our firm in 2016, John specialized in defending personal injury and premises liability cases.

Since 1984, MM&J has handled the defense of aviation accident cases involving a wide variety of aviation subjects. Two of our attorneys are pilots- and Garry Montanari holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering, previously working for NASA and Northrop.

As a result of the significant number of aviation accident defense cases defended by our firm, we are very familiar with the practices and procedures of accident investigation by the FAA and the NTSB.