Michael J. Sherwood, P.C.
Michael J. Sherwood
Michael is a Missoula native. He obtained his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He returned to Montana to attend the University of Montana School of Law. He received the American Jurisprudence Book Awards in Legal Writing IV and Agency and Partnership and was a member of the National Moot Court Team. During law school, he completed a legal internship with the Missoula City Attorney's Office prosecuting criminal cases.
Upon obtaining a law degree, he opened a practice focusing primarily on criminal defense in Federal, State, and Tribal courts. He has been admitted to practice in the State Courts of Montana, the Federal Courts for the District of Montana, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals the United States Supreme Court and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Court. He has been admitted to practice pro hoc vice in the Federal Courts of the District of Columbia, Wyoming, Washington, and California.
His peers have rated Michael at the highest level of ethics and professional excellence. His Martindale-Hubbell rating is a Preeminent AV. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as well as the Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He received its “Lawyer of the Year” award in 2000. As a member of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association he received its “Lawyer of the Year” award in 1988. Michael is also a member of the Criminal Defense Section of the State Bar of Montana.
Over the past four decades, Michael has represented in excess of nine hundred citizens and business entities accused of felony conduct. He has defended more than sixty of those clients in trial. The trials included allegations ranging from violations of Federal Mail, Wire, Bank and Bankruptcy Fraud statutes, the Federal Clean Water Act, the Federal Clean Air Act, Homicide, and Assault. Representation of clients has spread across eighteen Montana counties and in all of the Montana United States District Court divisions. He has also represented clients in the Federal jurisdictions of Louisiana, Washington, Wyoming, California, and the District of Columbia.
He has successfully appealed multiple cases to the Montana Supreme Court, including applications for Writs of Supervisory Control, and to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He successfully obtained a denial of the government’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in a Federal Bank Fraud case after prevailing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Over the course of ten years, Michael taught a course in White Collar Crime at the University of Montana School of Law.
Outside of work, Michael enjoys the outdoors: canoeing and hiking with his dog, Simon, and spending time at a lake-side cabin.