Weblogic

Michael McConnell joined Melrose, Seago & Lay in 2007. His practice focuses on personal injury, Indian law, court and administrative issues with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and its members, local government law and regulation, , contracts, , construction and land disputes, and family law including adoptions and the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). . He is a member of the North Carolina State Bar and the North Carolina Bar Association. He is also admitted to practice in federal District Court in the Western District of North Carolina and in the Cherokee Tribal Court.

Mike was raised in Maryland. He earned his Bachelor's Degree from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and his law degree from Seattle University School of Law, graduating with a J.D. in 1988.

In 1988, Mike moved to Boise, Idaho, where he obtained his Idaho law license. In 1992, he became a law clerk for the Chief Judge of the Idaho Court of Appeals, the Honorable Jesse R. Walters (ret.) . From 1996 until 2001, he was a senior legal analyst in the Legislative Services Office of the Idaho Legislature, where he worked with state legislators establishing state law and policy . . He also served on the Idaho delegation to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

Mike obtained his North Carolina law license in 2000 and a year later he and his family moved to Waynesville, North Carolina. Mike immediately began practicing law as a tribal attorney for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. From 2006 to 2007, he was the tribe's interim Attorney General. When he was with the tribe, Mike provided legal advice and assistance to the principal chief and vice-chief, Tribal Council, the Cherokee Tribal Court and individual tribal members and tribal programs on the wide variety of issues faced by a independent, sovereign nation and its members. These issues ranged from negotiations with federal and state agencies emphasizing government–to–government relations and protection of Tribal sovereignty to intra-tribal matters including contracting, enrollment; ordinance and resolution drafting, tribal business and contracting preference rights, business regulation; housing, leasing, secured interests, foreclosure, and residential and commercial development.. He also worked closely with the Cherokee Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) on matters reflecting the federal government’s trust responsibility to the tribe.

Mike is a member of the Haywood Community College Board of Trustees and a is a director on the Haywood Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors. He is an experienced motorcyclist, with extensive experience on the street, trail and the track.. He and his family are members of the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville.