Michael has been a member of the South Carolina Bar since 1977.  He is certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court as a Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law.  An attorney in South Carolina can not call themselves a specialist, expert or certified unless they are certified by the South Carolina Supreme Court. 

Michael has been a resident of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina since 1978 and is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Estate Planning and Probate. 

In 2018, he was a speaker at  South Carolina Probate Judges Bench Bar Seminar in Columbia, South Carolina on the subject of Guns in Estates.   He was also a 2016 Spearker at the South Carolina Probate Judges meeting on Hilton Head Island, South on the subject of Speical Administrators.  Prior to that he had been a speaker at a previous South Carolina Probate Judges meeting on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina on the subject of the probate problems created, if someone writes on a Will, after it has been executed.

Michael served on the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Bar from 2006-2009.  He has been a Mentor for new lawyers under the South Carolina Supreme Court's mentoring program.

For the years 1993-1996, he was a member of the South Carolina Estate Planning and Probate Law Specialization Advisory Board and was Chairman of the Advisory Board in 1995.  The Advisory Board interviews and tests attorneys wanting to become Certified Specialists in Estate Planning and Probate Law.

From 1998-2004, he was a member of the South Carolina Supreme Court's Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization.  This Commission oversees required continuing legal education requirements for South Carolina attorneys.  The Commission also oversees the specialization programs for attorneys in South Carolina in Estate Planning and Probate Law, Taxation Law, Labor Law and Bankruptcy Law.  From 2002-2004, Michael was also the Secretary of the Commission.

He is a past member of the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee of the South Carolina Bar.  Michael has also been a member of the Complaints Subcommittee.

In addition, Michael is a member and past chairman of the Professional Responsibility Committee of the South Carolina Bar.  He has also chaired subcommittees on studying alternatives to multidisciplinary practices and changes to rules on what to do with a legal practice when an attorney dies, becomes incompetent, is suspended or disbarred.  One of his subcommittees has also written a manual for South Carolina attorneys who are appointed by the South Carolina Supreme Court to take over such practices. Michael was also on a 2002 subcommittee studying and recommending changes to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct for Lawyers.  He was also a member of the Bar's committee that worked with the South Carolina Supreme Court and its own commission on the new Rules of Professional Conduct for Lawyers, which became effective on October 1, 2005.