Overview

Mike is a shareholder, President, and Chair of the Executive Committee at the firm. He is a native of Alton, Illinois and an alumnus of the University of Illinois. As an undergraduate at Illinois, he was Phi Beta Kappa and completed his degree in 1980, magna cum laude. He earned his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1983.

Mike devotes his practice to the representation of employers, insurance carriers, and third-party administrators in workers' compensation matters throughout the state. He is the author of several published law review articles on workers' compensation topics, and he is a frequent lecturer on this topic. He serves as an adjunct professor of workers' compensation on the faculty of Western Michigan University Cooley Law School in Lansing. He is also a faculty member of the Michigan State University School of Human Resources and Labor Relations Department, where he teaches a wide array of workers' compensation topics throughout the United States in the Executive Education program. He has also served as an adjunct instructor of business law at University of Illinois and Michigan State University.

Mike is admitted to practice in Michigan and Illinois. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and the Ingham County Bar Association, and he is listed in Best Lawyers® in America. He resides in Grand Ledge, Michigan where he is a trumpet player of average ability in the Grand Ledge Community Band.

Honors & Recognitions

Affiliations

Memberships & Affiliations

Legal Affiliations:

• ACADEMIC POSITION: Western Michigan Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Adjunct Professor for Workers' Compensation Law
• ACADEMIC POSITION: Michigan State University, Instructor for Human Resources Executive Education, School of Labor and Industrial Relations 
• American Bar Association
• State Bar of Michigan
• State Bar of Illinois
• Ingham County Bar Association

Community Involvement:

• Grand Ledge Community Band

Communications

Publications

• The Difficult Intersection of Workers’ Compensation, FMLA and ADA when an Employee gets Sick or Injured, Foster Swift Employment Labor & Benefits News, October 1, 2018
• Are Interns Injured on the Job Entitled to Michigan Workers’ Compensation Benefits?, Foster Swift Employment Labor & Benefits Law News, May 29, 2018
• Workers' Compensation Facilitation - The New Trial?, Foster Swift Employment, Labor & Benefits News, November 17, 2016

News & Events

Speaking Engagements

• Sexual Harassment in Workers' Compensation, Stop Before You Crash: Workers' Compensation and Employment Law, March 22, 2017

News

• 42 Foster Swift Attorneys Listed as Best Lawyers® 2020, August 15, 2019
• Firm Elects Executive Committee Members for 2019, Michigan Lawyers Weekly, March 7, 2019
• 45 Foster Swift Attorneys Listed in Best Lawyers in America© 2019, August 15, 2018
• Foster Swift Elects Executive Committee Members for 2018, February 13, 2018
• 46 Foster Swift Attorneys Named to 2018 Best Lawyers in America®, August 21, 2017
• Foster Swift Elects 2017 Executive Committee, February 13, 2017
• Michael Sanders Elected to College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers, March 23, 2016