Bio

Michael focuses his transactional and regulatory practice on producing creative and effective solutions for his business-oriented clients. His broad commercial experience includes counseling on:

• Mergers, acquisitions and divestitures
• Real estate acquisitions, sales and leasing
• Corporate affairs, governance, planning and structuring
• Commercial and corporate negotiations and dispute resolution
• Contractual relationships
• Lobbying state and local governing bodies
• Corporate operations in heavily-regulated industries such as alcohol, cannabis and firearms
• Asset management and governance

Michael regularly serves as external corporate counsel to institutional clients regarding management and operational matters. Since the adoption of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016, he has emerged as one of Arkansas’s preeminent counselors in the cannabis industry and has extended the firm’s cannabis practice to national and international clients.

Michael has a clear dedication to service to the firm and his community. He currently serves as the firm’s recruiting co-chairman, marketing committee member and diversity, equity and inclusion committee member. He also serves as a state liaison to the American Bar Association’s Corporate Laws Committee and as former chairman, he serves on the steering committee of the Arkansas Bar Association Public Service Academy.

Prior to graduating from law school summa cum laude and with his Master of Business Administration, Michael interned with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office in the Gang Task Force Unit, clerked with various prominent Arkansas firms, served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Ben T. Barry in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Arkansas and as a legislative extern for Congressman Steve Womack (AR-3). He served on the editorial board of the Arkansas Law Review, the Student Conduct Council at the University of Arkansas School of Law, the Arkansas Law Review Disciplinary Committee, the University of Arkansas All-University Academic Integrity Board and the MBA Curriculum Redesign Committee. He was also a mentor to younger students and served on the Editorial Board of the Arkansas Law Review.

Publications

From Seed to Sale: Cannabis Industry Trends Across the U.S. and Canada — Panelist at SCG Legal Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA (Sept. 2021)

New State Law Overseeing LLCs Has Wide-Ranging Effects — The Arkansas Banker (Fall 2021)

Don’t Get Caught Up in Cross-Collateralization — Presented as CLE at Arkansas Banker’s Association Mega Conference (Feb. 2021)

Green Space is Not a Risk-Free Buck — Arkansas Business (Feb. 11, 2021)

Financial Statement Analysis & Cash Flow Forecast — Presented as CLE at Arkansas Bar Association Mini-MBA (2019)

Intersection of Second Amendment and Controlled Substances — Presented as CLE to Arkansas Bar Association and Rose Law Firm (Fall 2018/Spr. 2019)

The Shifting Landscape of Captive Insurance Arrangements — 35 Inside (NY State Bar. Assoc.) 33 (Spr./Sum. 2017)

Guns or Ganja: Pick One and Only One — 52 Ark. Lawyer 24 (Spr. 2017)

Uniform Voidable Transactions Act as Adopted in Arkansas — Rose Law Firm Website (May 2017)

Banking in the Medical Marijuana Industry is a Quagmire of Opportunity — Rose Law Firm Website (May 2017)

High Crimes, Treason, and Chicken Theft: Infamous Crimes in Arkansas and Disqualification from Political Office — 67 ARK. L. REV. 653 (2014)