Experience
Mike is a seasoned attorney, executive, consultant, mediator, and certified fraud examiner (CFE) with over 30 years of diverse private-sector and state, county, and local government experience. Mike heads up Royse’s Legal Department, our Forensic practice group and is an entertaining speaker leading our Continuing Professional Education (CPE) group. He enjoys working with our client businesses and the professionals who serve them, in order to optimize their organizations and ensure compliance. Mike had a distinguished career as an innovative leader and public servant, improving every organization he served and starting many award-winning programs to more efficiently serve the public and rooting out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption.
Mike retired as a Colonel from the Ohio Military Reserve, State Defense Forces, Ohio Adjutant General’s Department, ultimately serving as the Inspector General, tightening oversight and supporting homeland security following the 911 attacks. Mike has served as the director of a state regulatory agency, Chief Counsel to the largest single-judge court in Ohio, a Magistrate, and as the 27th Franklin County Recorder. He is also a retired municipal prosecutor and chief legal officer, having served in multiple jurisdictions in Ohio. Mike is admitted to the Ohio and District of Columbia bars, and the bars of the Supreme Court of the United State, the U.S. Federal Court of Claims, U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio. He served as an Adjunct Professor for two decades at Capital University Law School.
Education
Mike’s civilian education includes graduating with a Juris Doctor degree from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, attending the evening division while working in the investigative and legal fields full-time. Immediately prior to Capital, he graduated from Marietta College in Southeastern Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts degree and two academic certificates: the Oral Communication Certificate with Distinction, and a Certificate from the Leadership Development Institute at the Bernard P. McDonough Center for Leadership and Business. During all of his educational endeavors, he always held at least two jobs, applying his education to real-world problems. His military education includes graduating from the United States Naval Inspector General School at the Washington Navy Yard and the U.S. Army IG School, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Personal
Mike is lifelong outdoorsman who has paddled, sailed, camped, motored, hiked, boondocked, and hunted from the Canadian Boundary Waters to Lake Erie and down to the Appalachian Mountains. He is passionate about teaching – having taught everything from Constitutional law, to ethics, first aid / CPR, lifesaving, and gun safety. Mike greatly enjoys giving back to his profession and community, having served as president, committee chair, and / or an officer in many state and local professional organizations, a mentor and internship supervisor to college and law students, as a scout leader, youth basketball and mock-trial coach, campaign volunteer, and as a volunteer elected and appointed official in his city. Most of all, he enjoys watching his four adult children grow and excel in their lives.
Affiliations
- Federal Bar Association, Tax Section, Criminal Law Section
- District of Columbia Bar Association, Taxation Section
- Delaware County Bar Association
- American Judges Association
- American Association for Justice
- Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
- Ohio Association of Security & Investigation Services
- Ohio Mediation Association
- Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association
- Ohio Bailiffs & Court Officers Association
- National Eagle Scout Association
- International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors
- National White Collar Crime Center