Michael Drake

About Michael

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Michael is a Partner based in our Charlottetown office. His practice focuses primarily on litigation, with an emphasis on insolvency work and with a particular expertise in administrative law. He has represented clients in general and commercial litigation, employment disputes, judgment enforcement, and judicial review proceedings at all levels of court in Prince Edward Island, the Federal Court of Canada and in leave applications to the Supreme Court of Canada. Michael is recognized by the Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory for his practice in insolvency litigation.

Michael is a member of McInnes Cooper’s Asset Recovery and Insolvency group, and has acted for secured and unsecured creditors, receivers (both privately appointed and court-appointed), and trustees in bankruptcy in many of the major insolvencies in recent years on Prince Edward Island. He is past Chair of the PEI Branch of CBA Bankruptcy and Insolvency Section.

Michael has particular expertise and interest in administrative law. He has appeared before numerous administrative tribunals, and has acted as counsel to tribunals. He Chairs the Administrative Law Section for the CBA-PEI Branch, and is past Chair and Vice Chair of the PEI Mental Health Act Review Board. He is also a past member of a Federal administrative tribunal. In addition to his experience acting for and before administrative tribunals, Michael is a past law clerk to a Judge of the Federal Court of Appeal, and is the co-author of the legal reference text Standards of Review of Federal Administrative Tribunals, published by Butterworths.

Michael has extensive experience advising government, institutional and business clients facing unique and urgent challenges requiring media management and messaging, including strategic use of social media. From 2013-2015, Michael was Chief of Staff to the Official Opposition Members Office in Prince Edward Island, and during that time provided strategic political advice to the Leader of the Opposition and sitting opposition members of the Prince Edward Island legislature on a wide variety of issues and time-sensitive matters. He also assisted in the drafting of private members legislation, legislative motions, and strategic research. Michael’s experience includes considerable communications expertise, including press-conference management, social media strategies and mainstream media contact. In 2015, he was nominated as the Progressive Conservative candidate and stood for election as a Member of the PEI Legislative Assembly in the Electoral District of Cornwall-Meadowbank.

Michael is a member of the Law Society of Prince Edward Island and the Canadian Bar Association. Michael obtained his LL.B. from the University of New Brunswick, where he graduated first in his class and was the holder of a Beaverbrook Scholarship in Law. He holds a Bachelor in Arts (First Class) from the University of Prince Edward Island.

In his community, Michael has acted as the Advocacy Chair for the PEI Division of the Canadian Diabetes Association; currently sits on the PEI Regional Council of the Red Cross; and regularly devotes his time to local charitable, pro bono, and other efforts as an active participant in McInnes Cooper’s Collective Social Responsibility Program. He has participated as an Advisor with Entrepreneur’s Forum, and takes great pride in providing mentorship and coaching to new lawyers and students.