Michael Topper is cohead of Cornerstone Research’s antitrust and competition practice and heads the Menlo Park office. He has more than eighteen years of experience working with clients in complex business litigation and regulatory proceedings. Dr. Topper has led case teams on a range of liability, damages, and class certification issues in antitrust, regulatory, product misrepresentation, product liability, intellectual property, and contract dispute matters. He has expertise in applying microeconomics, econometrics, statistics, and survey analyses in many market settings.
Dr. Topper has significant experience in a number of industries, including telecommunications, media, information technology, financial institutions, transportation, and energy. He has worked closely with counsel to develop economic and financial testimony for leading academic and industry experts. Dr. Topper also has consulted on nonlitigation business and economic issues, including the regulatory review of mergers by U.S. agencies and the European Commission, regulatory proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission, and matters before the Copyright Royalty Board. He has served as an expert and submitted testimony in FCC proceedings involving mergers and acquisitions, mobile wireless competition, high-capacity transport services, and broadband Internet access.
For ten years, Dr. Topper taught courses in economics and antitrust policy as a lecturer in the Department of Economics at Stanford University. Prior to joining Cornerstone Research, Dr. Topper was on the economics faculty of the College of William & Mary. Before receiving his doctorate in economics, Dr. Topper worked as an engineering economist at Bell Laboratories and Bell Communications Research.