Michael D. Sanders

Mike is a shareholder and a former President of 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.

State Bar of Michigan, Workers’ Compensation Section Hall of Fame, 2022

Ingham County Bar Association, Theodore W. Swift Civility Award, 2018

AV® Preeminent™ Martindale-Hubbell

Best Lawyers® in America - Workers' Compensation Law - Employers, 2005-2025

ABA College of Workers' Compensation Attorneys

Former Foster Swift Collins & Smith Executive Committee, President

Michigan Lawyers Weekly's "Leaders in the Law" Class of 2020

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