Michael Wales is a construction lawyer whose western-states practice focuses primarily on investigating, negotiating, and, if necessary, litigating residential, hotel, commercial, and high-rise condominium construction defect cases as well as surety claims in local, state and federal large-scale construction projects.
Mike has over 25 years experience as a trial lawyer and is a former judge as well as a frequent author and speaker on the topic of construction litigation. Mike is admitted to multiple federal courts across the nation in addition to being a long-time member of the Arizona and California State Bar Associations and has appeared pro-hac vice in cases in Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Utah, and Oregon.
Formerly a partner with a multi-state insurance defense law firm and the managing partner for a multi-state construction law firm, Mike has represented numerous homeowners’ associations, business owners, commercial and residential property owners, general contractors, subcontractors, insureds and insurers in a myrad of construction claims, soils subsidence claims, insurance litigation, and surety indemnification claims.
Mike was admitted to the State Bar of Arizona in 1991 and to the State Bar of California in 1993. From 1991 to 1993, Mike was employed as a Deputy County Attorney in Maricopa County, Arizona. From 1993 to 1995 he was employed as a Deputy City Attorney in Anaheim, California. Mike was an Administrative Law Judge and subsequently a Municipal Court Judge from 2005 to 2009, before returning to his construction law practice.