About

Michael is an animal protection lawyer, independent scholar, and activist working to end the exploitation of both human and non-human animals in the modern industrial agriculture system.

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Raised between North America and Europe, Michael is an international school kid and he speaks fluent German. After living in Switzerland, he moved to Montréal to study economics and political science at McGill University. At McGill, he was Editor-in-Chief of The Political Bouillon, a journal of political analysis. He then moved to New York City where he earned a Master’s Degree in economics from Columbia University. His key research was an in-depth literature review on the positive employment effects of increasing the minimum wage. After graduate school, Michael gained experience in sales, operations, and management.

A long-time ethical vegan and passionate environmentalist, Michael decided to leave his job and pursue a joint law and public policy degree with the ultimate goal of using his legal education to combat the environmental exploitation and animal cruelty endemic to our industrial food system. At The George Washington University, he took courses on topics ranging from gender, race, and species under the law to sustainable food systems. His law school work experience included a summer dedicated to workers justice at the Center for Popular Democracy and a semester at DC Justice Lab working on recommendations for the DC Police Reform Commission. In 2021-22 he was an Emerging Scholars Fellow at the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy.

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Michael’s primary area of interest is the intersection of animal law and social justice. He has experience at national organizations like the Humane Society of the United States and Mercy For Animals where he worked on a range of issues from constitutional litigation and state-level administrative law to nonprofit compliance, communications, and policy work. Michael’s work has been published in law reviews—including the Animal Law Review, the University of Miami Race and Social Justice Law Review, and the Michigan Journal of Race and Law—as well as in the Animal Studies Journal and several newsletters for the American Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee and International Animal Law Committee. Michael has spoken at the Canadian Animal Law Conference (2021 & 2022), the McGill Animal Advocacy/Défense Animale Animal and Environmental Law Student Conference, and the Vermont Law School's Animals and Restorative Justice Symposium.

During law school, Michael served as President of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund and as Student Liaison for the GW Animal Welfare Project, where he has drafted legislation on pet custody which was later introduced to the D.C. Council. Currently, Michael is the Newsletter Vice Chair for the ABA's International Animal Law Committee, Young Lawyers Vice Chair for the TIPS Animal Law Committee, and Co-Chair for the Animals in Agriculture Subcommittee.

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