Marnin J. Michaels ’92 Practices Law Internationally As A Leading Wealth Management Attorney
by Andrew Seder
Marnin J. Michaels ’92 was a trusts and estates lawyer with the Buffalo, N.Y., Phillips Lytle Law Firm with a view of the Buffalo River and Lake Erie and Canada in the distance. It was 1997, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was taking off with Canada/United States trade laws becoming a hot topic.
The trade agreement provided an opportunity for Michaels to transition to practicing law in an international arena, trading the New York landscape for life in Zurich, Switzerland, with idyllic views of the Albis Mountains and Lake Zurich. Michaels, who can speak five languages (although he would not say fluently), possessed attributes that would lead top international law firm Baker McKenzie to hire him in 1999. He’s been based in Switzerland for 21 years.
Wilkes 