Michael joined the firm as a candidate attorney in 1988 and was appointed a partner in 1990. He served as managing partner from 2011 to 2021. He heads the Commercial & Natural Resources Law Team at Cox Yeats. He received his BCom LLB cum laude from the University of Natal, Durban, and his LLM with first-class honours from Cambridge University, where he was elected a scholar of St John’s College.

His principal areas of practice are Business Law, Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions, Natural Resources & Energy, and Empowerment & Transformation Law. He is a member of the International Bar Association and is listed in both the Guide to the World’s Leading Natural Resource Lawyers and the Guide to the World’s Leading Energy and Environmental Lawyers published by Legal Media Group. Michael is also listed as a specialist in mergers and acquisitions law, private equity law, and empowerment and transformation law in the global publication Best Lawyers (www.bestlawyers.com). He is a past governor of Highbury School and Kearsney College.

Michael is actively involved in several community organisations and pro bono initiatives, including the Wild Coast Development Forum, serving as a director of SMILE (St Mary’s Interactive Learning), and his past governance roles at Highbury School and Kearsney College.