Michael was born in Madrid, Spain. He has lived in four different countries and four different states, and now calls North Carolina home. Michael attended Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, graduating Cum Laude in Accounting in 1987. He then attended Campbell University, Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, in Buies Creek North Carolina, where he earned his Juris Doctor in 1990. While at Campbell, he was named to the Order of the Barristers in recognition of his courtroom advocacy. Since graduating, he has been admitted to the North Carolina State Bar, the U.S. District Court Western District of North Carolina and the U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, and has appeared before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and North Carolina Supreme Court.

After graduation from law school, Michael spent three years working in a general practice firm practicing many different areas of law. He then spent the next eight years mainly defending lawsuits in the areas of personal injury litigation, products liability litigation, commercial litigation, construction litigation, and premises liability litigation. With his defense litigation experience, Michael now concentrates only on representing individuals or families of individuals who have suffered severe injury or death as a result of medical malpractice. Michael is a member of the Justice William Bobbitt Inn of Court, a member of the North Carolina Medico-Legal Liaison Committee for the North Carolina Bar Association, and a member of Carmel Baptist Church, where he serves as a Deacon, as well as on various church committees.