Michael Aschenbrener

GV: 312-970-9303
mja@aschenbrenerlaw.com

Michael Aschenbrener is the founder and a principal at Aschenbrener Law. He represents individuals in consumer, technology, and privacy class actions. He also represents businesses in technology, privacy, compliance, and other commercial matters. He is also CIPP/US certified.

Michael has been appointed Lead Counsel in many seminal technology and privacy cases, and is frequently sought by the media and his peers for his views on these issues. He has appeared in dozens of publications and television and radio broadcasts worldwide, including NPR, Bloomberg Law, CNET, Wired, Computerworld, The Register, AP, New Scientist, Law360, L.A. Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and more.

Representative Cases:

• Lead Attorney in Gawronski v. Amazon (W.D. Wash.), which stemmed from Amazon allegedly remotely deleting the electronic version of several George Orwell books from consumers' Kindles. The case resulted in a settlement ensuring that Amazon can never remotely delete e-books without consumer consent.
• Co-Lead Class Counsel in Evans v. Linden Research, Inc. (N.D. Cal.), a certified class action alleging that the company running Second Life, the online virtual world, illegally confiscated the money and virtual property of Second Life users.
• Co-Lead Class Counsel in In re Facebook Privacy Litigation (N.D. Cal.), a putative class action alleging Facebook shared the personal information of Facebook users with its advertisers in violation of its public promises not to do so.
• Co-Lead Class Counsel in In re Zynga Privacy Litigation (N.D. Cal.), which alleges that Zynga also shared the personal information of its users with advertisers in violation of its promises.
• Co-Lead Class Counsel in In re T-Mobile Sidekick Litigation (N.D. Cal.), a cloud computing data loss case resulting in a settlement valued at over $5 million.
• Lead Class Counsel in Turner v. Storm8 (N.D. Cal.), a privacy class action concerning the alleged harvesting of the personal information of millions of iPhone gaming users. The case resulted in a settlement valued at $8 million.

Prior to founding Aschenbrener Law, Michael was Chair of the Technology and Privacy practice group at a prominent technology and class action law firm. Prior to that, he served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Minnesota. Before entering the legal field, Michael spent nearly a decade working in media, technology, and Internet marketing.

Michael is a native of Minnesota, an alumnus of Macalester College, and a graduate of the University of Minnesota, where he received his B.A. in journalism with an emphasis in advertising. Michael received his J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he was an award-winning member of the Moot Court Honor Society and Editor of the Seventh Circuit Review.

Michael lives in Chicago with his wife, Dannie, and son, Max. He is an avid competitor, having competed in dozens of races including marathons and triathlons. He is also a dedicated Minnesota sports fan.

Licensed States of Practice

• California
• Illinois
• Minnesota

Court Admissions

• Supreme Court of California
• Supreme Court of Illinois
• Supreme Court of Minnesota
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court, Central District of California
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois
• U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana