Michael Durham — Instructor Profile

About Michael Durham

Michael D. Durham is the Managing Member for Michael D. Durham, PLLC. “Mike” is an Executive level attorney that is Board Certified in City, County and Local Government Law who manages and directly handles complex public sector matters at various levels within organizations. Mike possesses and demonstrates strong public sector knowledge and skills arising from his diverse and unique administrative and legal experiences over the past 30 years.

Mike started serving the public as a deputy sheriff under corrections and law enforcement bureaus and later as a municipal police officer with the administrative responsibilities of background investigations and internal investigations. After graduating law school, he defended law enforcement officers through litigation actions arising under civil rights claims, state law matters, and administrative actions in Pinellas County. As executive counsel, Mike served as in-house General Counsel for the Office of Sheriff under Sheriff Susan Benton, as the City Attorney for municipal government and as the County Attorney for a political subdivision of the State.

Currently Mike is engaged as an in-house Administrative Division Director responsible for Human Resources, Labor Relations, Risk Management, Information Systems & Services, and Budgeting under the independent taxing district for the Alachua County Library District. In this role, Mike is often engaged in quality assurance investigations, civil actions filed in federal and state courts, agency representative in employee discipline matters, Risk reviews, and prepares public policies and procedures.

In addition, he serves as an appointed Magistrate for the City of Alachua hearing various matters arising from enforcement matters. Mike is a Florida Supreme Court certified Mediator and is active in the areas of strategic planning and conflict resolution.

Mike is an experienced trainer and educator for various institutions and universities in the areas of Law Enforcement and Corrections Academies, Negotiation Theories & Practices, Public Administration, Policy & Practice, Legal Research & Writing, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law & Procedure, Human Resources, Labor & Employment and Ethics.

Mike’s educational highlights include his Juris Doctorate Degree in honors from St. Thomas School of Law, where he served as an Articles Editor for the Law Review, served as a professor’s research assistant and tutored law students. He possesses a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of South Florida graduating with induction into PI Alpha Alpha, the National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administrators and received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Webber College in Babson Park, Florida.