Michael was born in Manhasset, New York and grew up on Long Island outside of New York City. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1991 with a Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance along with a Bachelors of Arts in History. During his breaks from Notre Dame, Michael worked for a specialist firm on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He attended Valparaiso University School of Law, graduating with multiple honors in 1994. Michael passed the Bar in 1994 and has been a practicing attorney since then. In 2005 he graduated from the University of Florida School of Law with an LLM in taxation. He is licensed to practice in all state courts in the state of Florida, the Middle District of Florida, the United State Supreme Court and the United State Tax Court.
Michael is a past president of The Florida Bar Young Lawyers Division (the youngest one ever) and also served on the Florida Bar Board of Governors and its executive committee (2003-2005). Michael previously represented the 6th Judicial Circuit of the Florida Bar Young Lawyer’s Division Board of Governors (1998-2003) before being elected the Boards President. He has served on the Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Committee, Florida Bar Student Education Student Admission Committee, FL Bar Long Range Planning Committee and the FL Law Related Education Committee. He presently is the Vice Chair of the FL Bar 6A Grievance Committee., Vice Chair of the FL Bar’s Leadership Academy and Dean of its’ Northern Division for the FL Bar.
Michael is a Past Chairman of the Voluntary Bar Association Committee of the FL Bar and is presently the Chairman of the Florida Bar Standing Committee on Advertising. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Florida Bar Foundation which oversees the Florida's Interest on Trust Accounts (IOTA) program and funds programs which help to expand and improve representation and advocacy on behalf of low-income persons in civil legal matters and improve the fair and effective administration of justice.
Michael is a Past President of the Clearwater Bar Association (2002-2003) where he was its youngest president ever along with being past president of the Clearwater Bar Association Young Lawyer’s Division (1996-1998). In addition, he is the 2011 St. Petersburg Bar Foundations’ Rising Star for St. Petersburg, a 2002 graduate of Leadership Pinellas, 2002 Tampa Bay Review's 40 Under 40 for the Tampa Bay area, and a 2003 graduate of the Pinellas County Sheriff Community Policing Institute. Michael was previously the Senior Associate at the law firm of McFarland, Gould, Lyons, Sullivan and Hogan, P.A. (1997-2004-Clearwater, FL) and was head of the firm’s workers’ compensation and labor departments. His practice areas included workers’ compensation, personal injury, labor, probate, estate planning and commercial litigation. He was a tax associate at the law firm of Abel, Band, Chartered (2005-2006-Sarasota, FL) in the Business & Corporate Counseling Group and Personal Services & Planning Group. While in Sarasota, he served on the Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society’s Sarasota Unit and was on the Board of Directors for the Notre Dame Club of Greater Sarasota.
Michael returned to the Tampa Bay area and took a position as Vice President and Senior Tax & Charitable Strategist for Raymond James Trust in their Private Wealth Management Family Office Department where he served as the primary point of contact for clients, overseeing the planning investment process and estate planning strategies while bringing the numerous resources of Raymond James to clients. He also works extensively with charitable organizations on tax issues along with compliance issues and was the department’s chief tax and charitable giving expert. Michael went on to become a senior associate with the oldest law firm in St. Petersburg, Fisher & Sauls and Robbins Equittas. He practiced in the area of tax, contract law, estate planning, probate, business/corporate consulting, civil litigation and tax controversy work.
Presently he is managing and running his own law firm where is Managing Partner for M. Faehner, ESQ, LLC where he practices in the areas of tax, contract law, estate and trust planning, probate, charitable giving, trustee services, business/corporate consulting, civil litigation and tax controversy work. His website can be seen at www.mfaehner.com
Presently, he is the Treasurer of the Clearwater Bar Association; he is serving as the Board President for the St. Anthony’s Hospital Foundation from 2012-2104, Vice Chairman of the Jolley Trolley Board of Clearwater and he sits on the Board of Directors for Sunncoast Hospice Foundation, and the St. Anthony’s Hospital Board. He presently is volunteering on several committees for the Suncoast YMCA, Pinellas Education Foundation, the Suncoast Hospice Foundation and University of Tampa. He also volunteers his time to give talks on assorted tax and charitable issues to the community.
Michael is a member of the Clearwater Bar Association, the St. Petersburg Bar Association and the West Pasco Bar Association. He was also the recipient of the 2005 FL Law Related Education Association Attorney of the Year and received a special FL Supreme Court Special Citation for his work with Hurricane Disaster Relief. As a result of his work with the Florida Hurricanes in 2004, he was labeled in the legal community as the “Master of Disaster”. He also served as a charitable consultant during Hurricane Katrina relief for several of the states that were impacted. In 2011, he was recognized by the St. Petersburg Bar Foundation as a “Rising Star” in the legal community by giving him one of their highest honors for his commitment to the legal profession and the community. In 2013, the Clearwater Bar recognized him with the highest honor the organization gives to a member of the legal profession by bestowing on him the “Ralph Richards” Award for his dedication to the community and the profession.
In Michael’s spare time, he serves as an adjunct professor at St. Petersburg College in their four year Bachelor’s Paralegal Studies Program in the College of Policy and Legal Studies. He is also the immediate Past President of the University of Notre Dame Club for the Greater Tampa Bay Area.
