Michael is a Managing Partner at Venturous Counsel. He specializes in advising emerging companies and their investors at all stages in a company’s life cycle—from formation to exit. Prior to joining Venturous Counsel, Michael represented startups and investors at Silicon Legal Strategy and at Perkins Coie LLP (where he also did a stint as a commercial litigation attorney). Michael is passionate about empowering clients to realize their vision and navigate the complex startup ecosystem with confidence by offering actionable, bottom-line-oriented advice. His pro bono legal practice is focused on refugee and asylum matters; his latest project is working with Afghan translators and their family members to obtain legal protection in the United States.
Michael was born and raised in Kokomo, Indiana (rather unlike the Beach Boys song of the same name) but cut his teeth in Chicago before making his home in the San Francisco Bay Area over a decade ago. He received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley and holds an undergraduate degree in journalism. Outside of work, Michael is a climate activist, the founder and lead guitarist of Northern California hard rock cover band “Night Train”, and a certified yoga instructor offering restorative yoga classes and workshops for private events and at studios around the Bay Area.
