Mike has practiced exclusively in family law since graduating from the University of Washington Law School in 1983. He has been in the same firm since 1981 and assumed its leadership in 2001. He has served as a mediator and arbitrator in family law matters since 1987. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a past president of the Washington Chapter. He served on the King County bench as a Family Law Commissioner pro tem from 1998 – 2007. He served several terms as board president for both the Center for Conflict Management (a non-profit mediation service) and Northwest Family Life (a non-profit Domestic Violence Treatment agency).Mike authored the Washington Deskbook Chapter on mediation for the WSBA and has presented at numerous legal conferences.He has three adult children, each of whom works with him at the firm in one capacity or another.
Excellent and well-balanced divorce lawyer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Anonymous
I’m confident that if I had not used Michael as my divorce attorney, my divorce would have been ugly, very expensive and ended up in court. Most importantly, my children would have been the ones most adversely affected.
Michael helped me with my strong but seemly impossible desire to keep my divorce amicable and out of court, primarily for the sake of our children. When things happened that got me upset with the process and with the other attorney’s constant badgering, Michael would not let us go more aggressive, but instead he kept us on the high-road, which he knew was paramount to me. He made it clear that I hired him to be the objective party when I lost objectivity. He always kept our communications respectful.
A key turning point happened when we finally had an agreed upon four-way meeting with my ex and her lawyer, so we could solve some key procedural issues and proceed with the divorce. Michael effectively turned it into a mediation meeting instead when he discovered after talking to my ex and her lawyer that she was willing to settle all of our remaining divorce issues right then. After assuring I wanted the same, in fairly short order, we settled all the issues that we hadn’t settled in nearly six months of conflict. Michael’s mediation experience made this all seem natural.
Michael’s firm also has an outstanding staff of paralegals and assistants.
I’m happy to say that once my ex’s lawyer was out of the picture after the divorce was settled and was done, we have become friends again and have remained good parents which has made the divorce much easier on our children. I can’t imagine what the outcome would have been if her lawyer had his way and pushed us to fight in court. My key recommendation, if there is no abuse or similar issues, is to keep it out of court and hearings. One day your children will thank you.
