Michael is a practising lawyer, former military officer, and geolegal strategist. He is the legal director of Norfolk Advisory. His practice areas are public and international law, with a particular focus on defence, regulatory, and security law, and on the laws and customs of war.
Michael was educated at Avondale University, the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne, and the University of New South Wales. He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, through the Australian Army Reserve officer commissioning scheme as a signals officer.
Michael has degrees in business, education, history, and law. His honours thesis in law was a legal history of military conscription in Australia. He is currently studying policy at the Australian National Security College in anticipation of soon commencing doctoral studies in international law.
Michael spent over twenty years in the Australian Regular Army as a legal officer. His operational service was in Asia, the Middle East, and the Pacific. His expertise was in legal warfare, synthesising legal regimes, and operational legal framework design. He also advised on Pacific law.
Michael has considerable experience in complex advisings, crisis and operational military planning, and legal policy formulation. During his military service he advised on, and conducted, sensitive military inquiries and investigations into operational incidents and criminal allegations.
Michael was an aid worker and college teacher. He was a contracted field officer for over a year with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees during the Liberian Civil War. He does pro bono legal work (mostly commercial) for an international democracy and human rights charity.
Michael’s experience and skills provide clients with problem-scoping and planning expertise, geolegal and strategy perspectives, and legal research. He provides the conceptual and organising framework for deconstructing problems and practical ways for clients to solve them.