Mitch was born and raised in Manchester, Iowa where he graduated from West Delaware High School. Mitch attended undergraduate school at Wartburg College where he played football, and majored in Biology. Even though a bit undersized for the job, Mitch played center his entire football career. Mitch was honored by both his high school and college teammates by being elected a captain for his respective senior seasons.

Mitch’s interest in science, and particularly anatomy and physiology led him to Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska to study physical therapy. Mitch’s love of hiking, fishing, and skiing drew him to Anaconda, Montana, where Mitch completed his final clinical internship for physical therapy school. Mitch was honored by being inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu during his final year at Creighton. After earning his Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree, Mitch was fortunate enough to practice physical therapy all over the northwest, including Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. Mitch’s practice included treating patients in rural Montana, to treating patients in a large HMO in the San Francisco Bay area, and everything in between. Mitch’s experience in the health care field sparked his interest in law, policy, and intellectual property.

Mitch attended law school at the University of Montana School of Law. While in law school, Mitch interned with the respected Missoula based, Phillips Bohyer & Hedger Firm, and Phillips Law Firm during his second and third years. Mitch also interned for the University of Montana Office of Technology Transfer, where Mitch gained valuable experience in intellectual property protection and licensing. In his third year of law school, Mitch was the winner of the Nathan Burkan memorial competition for meritorious scholarly writing in the field of copyright law. Upon graduating from law school, Mitch continued working for the Phillips Law Firm. Mitch became a shareholder in 2013 with the then Phillips Haffey firm. Mitch became a registered patent attorney in 2013.

Mitch has been lead or co-lead chair in multiple civil jury trials. All trials achieved favorable outcomes for the clients represented. Mitch has prosecuted multiple patent and trademark applications before the USPTO. Mitch has achieved an AV® rating from Martindale Hubbell for his legal abilities and ethics. In November of 2015, Mitch and John Haffey formed Haffey Vap PLLC to realize their desire to provide efficient, excellent service to their clients in a modern law practice. Mitch currently represents a wide variety of clients ranging from large corporations involved in complex litigation, to single inventors seeking to protect intellectual property.

Mitch enjoys spending time with his wife, Angela, and two young boys Logan and Levi, in the Montana outdoors. The Vaps can be found hiking, skiing, fishing, floating, and just generally enjoying Missoula in their spare time.