A Career Built on Complex Counsel
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Political Science, Michael pursued professional baseball with the Atlanta Braves organization. Faced with the daunting challenge of breaking into a rotation that included Hall of Famers Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz, and with some candid encouragement from manager Bobby Cox and general manager John Schuerholz to perhaps seek another career, he returned to Colorado and enrolled at the University of Colorado School of Law.
Michael launched his legal career at Patton Boggs LLP, now Squire Patton Boggs, one of the most prominent and politically connected law firms in the country. There he counseled technology, environmental, and public-sector clients on legal strategy, regulatory matters, and complex multi-stakeholder initiatives. He subsequently became a partner at Seman, Hoog & Powell, LLC, concentrating in corporate and regulatory law.
His work navigating complex regulatory and transactional matters across multiple stakeholders drew him into a broader advisory role. Over time, Michael was engaged as outside communications counsel to national and international organizations facing consequential, high-profile situations, experience that sharpened his instincts for how business leaders think, how boards make decisions, and what business owners are genuinely worried about when they pick up the phone. That perspective shapes his legal practice today. Notably, Michael served as outside communications counsel to a major global digital media platform during its wind-down, working alongside the company’s legal team to structure customer and industry communications that allowed the platform to close without litigation.
In 2011, that perspective became personal. Michael’s son suffered a serious injury that required a special needs trust to provide for his long-term care, and for the first time, Michael found himself on the other side of the table, not as counsel but as a father trying to protect someone he loved. It changed how he approaches estate planning. Three decades as a lawyer told him what the documents needed to say. That experience told him what was actually at stake.
Rooted in Longmont
Michael grew up in Longmont and has remained rooted in the community throughout his career. He served as head baseball coach at Skyline High School for ten years, coached youth football and baseball in Longmont, and mentored student-athletes at the University of Colorado. The establishment of Hoog Law is, in many ways, the natural culmination of that commitment. A practice built to serve the people and businesses he has spent a lifetime alongside.
