Michael David Hales

Michael Hales started Targhee Law when he was hired as a Business Management faculty member at Brigham Young University - Idaho. When not in the classroom teaching business law and business writing, Michael enjoys assisting clients with their business/contractual legal matters. Targhee Law affords Michael the flexibility of mingling research interests with real-world legal solutions.

A graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law and Brigham Young University, Michael is licensed to practice law in both Idaho and Florida. Michael has worked at firms in California, Idaho, and Florida where he focused on business transactional law. He also has extensive courtroom experience, appearing in over 200 hearings before federal administrative law judges.

In 2012, MIchael pioneered a relatively new and hyper-specialized area of law: assisting timeshare owners seeking to cancel their existing ownership contracts. At the time, the standard legal advice to timeshare owners was to sell. However, with little or no resale value, timeshare owners fell victim to countless upfront fee scams. Michael’s innovative solutions resulted in timely and cost-effective timeshare cancellation.

Michael has represented numerous businesses, including a publishing company where he advised on intellectual property matters, talent acquisition, and compliance. Through this area of work, he was retained by a fan-fiction author to negotiate a licensing deal with Ben Affleck’s attorney. Michael also worked at Brigham Young University - Idaho, negotiating the school’s large software purchases, managing and closing domestic and international agreements, and advising on strategic budgetary issues. By so doing, he was able to facilitate the school’s imperatives of lowering relative costs while serving more students and increasing educational quality.

In his spare time, Michael is passionate about the outdoors. Depending on the season, you can find him skiing, biking, running, or hiking in the nearby Caribou-Targhee National Forest with his family. He also enjoys surfing when he's able to escape to Manhattan Beach, California for a few days.

Michael is fluent in Spanish, having lived in Honduras from 2000-2002.