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Soon after entering law practice in 1995, Mike cultivated a specialism in cross-border tax, inheritance, and business matters, and his work came to focus primarily on crafting succession plans for multinational estates, counseling non-US citizens on pre-immigration planning, and advising non-US citizens with regard to inbound investments. He also consulted with and for international insurers, non-US national governments, international charities, and created bespoke life insurance and alternative risk management plans.

Mike has been interested in contributing to the wider professional discussion for most of his career; to date he has published four monographs (looseleafs within the Portfolios series) for BBNA, which he continues to update, as well as edition chapters, articles in various journals, and conference papers. He has taught several continuing legal education courses, and paneled at numerous practitioner conferences, most notably of the NYSBA International Section, and the joint NYSBA / STEP International Estate Planning.  

Mike’s licensure ('inactive' from Sept 2016) includes the State of Colorado, the US Tax Court and the Federal District Court in Colorado. Current professional affiliations include the BBNA Estates, Gifts and Trusts Advisory Board (Emeritus 2017), and the London-based Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

Mike recently decided to return to academia and pursue graduate studies in history, ultimately aspiring to teach and publish research on the legal and religious controversies, literature, sermons and dialogues of the 16th and 17th centuries. In 2015, he completed his master of letters in Reformation Studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. From October 2016 Mike is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Oxford, the project being a contextualization and analysis of late-Elizabethan engagements with the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Mike is also active in the arena of Oxonian legal studies and debates, as a founding member of The Law Society of St Cross College.

Education:
DPhil History, University of Oxford (pending, 2016-2020)
M.Litt. with distinction, University of St Andrews (2015)
J.D., University of Denver College of Law (1995)
B.A. cum laude, Benedictine College (1991)

Bloomberg BNA Tax Management Portfolios:
806 T.M., Immigration and Expatriation Law for the Estate Planner (author)
837 T.M., Non-Citizens – Estate, Gift and Generation-Skipping Taxation (author)
854 T.M./6500 T.M., U.S. Taxation of Foreign Estates, Trusts and Beneficiaries (author)
872 T.M., Ethical Issues in International Estate Planning (co-author)