Biography:
Michael attended college and law school at the University of Michigan where he received his B.A. in 1973 with high distinction and his J.D. in 1976, magna cum laude. He was an Associate Editor of the University of Michigan Law Review and elected a member of the Order of the Coif, the law school honor society, on graduation.
Michael is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Florida Justice Association, and of the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice (AAJ). He served in both capacities for more than ten years. He has been elected a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, an organization whose membership is limited to 500 lawyers throughout the United States. He has lectured at numerous Florida Justice Association, American and Florida Bar and American Association for Justice seminars on various subjects, and is a past chairman of AAJ's Aviation Section. He has published articles and book chapters in several Bar and independent publications in the areas of Aviation law and expert witnesses. He is a member of the Miami Dade Justice Association and a charter member of the Miami Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, of which he was President in 1997. A former member of the Board of Governors of the Young Lawyers Division of The Florida Bar, he has also served as Vice-Chair of the Florida Bar's Rules of Civil Procedure Committee, and is a former officer of the Dade County Bar's Young Lawyers Section. Finally, he is a member of the Dade County Bar Association, the Federal and American Bar Associations and a member of the Bar in Florida, Wyoming and the District of Columbia. He is admitted to practice in all of Florida's federal courts, the 5th and 11th Circuit Courts of Appeal, and the United States Supreme Court.
He has been continuously recognized for over ten years running as one of the best 100 lawyers in Florida. By Super Lawyers magazine and in the annual book The Best Lawyers in America. He was named as one of the Legal Elite, the top 1.7% of all lawyers in Florida, in a poll by Florida Trend magazine. He has also been selected as a 'Top Lawyer' by the South Florida Legal Guide, as a member of LawDragon, comprised of peer recognized lawyers throughout the United States . Finally, Michael participates in a wide variety of civic activities and is a former officer and long term Board member of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, where he served on the Financial Management Committee, the Long Term Strategic Planning Committee, the Executive Committee, the Planning & Budget Committee, of which he was chairman for two years and as the legal advisor to the Audit Committee.
