J. Michael (Mike) King's Profile Image

J. Michael (Mike) King

Phone: (202) 349-3907

J. Michael (Mike) King specializes in employment law and employment litigation in the District of Columbia. He has represented numerous employees in disputes involving a wide range of issues including benefits, demotion, disability, discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment, non-selection for position, performance reviews, reassignment, redundancy, retaliation, severance agreements, sexual harassment, suspension and revocation of security clearance, whistleblowing, workers’ compensation, wrongful discharge, and wrongful termination. Mike also represents employees in internal investigations involving allegations of misconduct.

Mike has represented staff in disputes involving the federal and District of Columbia governments, international organizations (World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, and PAHO), foreign embassies and missions, private businesses and non-profits. He has handled Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints involving numerous federal agencies, and he has advised employees in employment-related matters at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the D.C. Office of Human Rights (OHR), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the federal Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the federal Offices of Inspector General (OIG), the federal and local courts of the District of Columbia, and the conflict resolution systems of the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank, and PAHO.

On the advisory side, Mike counsels businesses on their international investment projects and business ventures, including project structuring, partnerships, financing, risk analysis, due diligence, and dispute resolution, with a particular focus on U.S. investments in frontier and emerging markets. He has trained foreign government officials and civil servants on the legal aspects of infrastructure projects and public-private partnerships (PPPs). Mike has also advised international arbitration and dispute resolution institutions on various institutional matters, including governance, policy reform, and public relations.

Prior to joining the Law Offices in 2012, Mike served as a Consultant (2009-2010) and Legal Counsel for Institutional Matters (2010-2012) at the World Bank Group's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). He advised ICSID’s Secretary-General and senior management on matters including governance, policy, public relations, document archiving and management, annual meetings, conferences, and publications. He also served as Staff Editor (2009), Managing Editor (2010-2011), and Associate Editor (2012) of ICSID’s scholarly journal, the ICSID Review Foreign Investment Law Journal.

During his JD program at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Mike assisted in federal environmental litigation as a Student Attorney in the Environmental Law Clinic, served as Business Editor of the Denver Journal of International Law & Policy, worked as a professor's research assistant in the area of civil rights, and undertook studies in Europe focused on international law and European Union law. He also interned with the Denver City Attorney’s Office, the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, and the environmental practice group of a Colorado-based private law firm. During his LLM program at the George Washington University Law School, Mike specialized in environmental and energy law, and he interned with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.

Mike is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association, Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association, National Employment Lawyers Association, and Washington Foreign Law Society.

In his free time, Mike enjoys volunteering and playing drums and percussion in several bands made up of lawyers who rock for charitable causes.

Bar Admissions

  • Colorado (2009) (inactive)
  • District of Columbia (2016)

Education

  • University of Denver Sturm College of Law, JD (2007)
  • Duke University, BA (2004)

Awards and Ratings

Rising StarAVVOAVVOAVVo