Michael Flaherty (Ret) is best known as a legal malpractice lawyer. For more than 35 years, he served as lead trial counsel in virtually every type of legal malpractice case. Mr. Flaherty also represented lawyers in ethics, discipline, and business disputes, served as outside general counsel to several law firms, and served as expert witness on law of lawyering standard of care issues.

Mr. Flaherty was licensed to practice law in Illinois from 1983 through January of 2026 as a member of the Federal Trial Bar for the Northern District of Illinois and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Annually since 1998, he was rated AV® Preeminent in the Lexis-Nexis Martindale-Hubbell peer rating system. Annually since 2009, he was recognized in the Chicago Magazine Illinois Super Lawyers publications in the area of legal malpractice. He also was a Lifetime Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a member of the Leading Lawyers Network in the areas of legal malpractice and commercial litigation.

Mr. Flaherty was an Adjunct Professor (Professional Responsibility in Trial Ethics, Northwestern University School of Law, since 1994. He was a Faculty Member at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Professional Responsibility Institute of the Illinois Supreme Court. He was a Member of the ABA Center of Professional Responsibility, the ABA Legal Malpractice Data Center, the ABA Professional Liability Litigation Committee, and the ABA Ethics and Professionalism Litigation Committee. Previously, he served as President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Committee On Legal Malpractice, Editorial Board Member of the American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility, Member of the American Bar Association Joint Committee on Lawyer Regulation, Liaison to the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyers Professional Liability, Co-Chair of the 2002 Global Forum on International Legal Ethics and Risk Management, Florence, Italy, Co-Chair of the 2000 Global Forum on Multi-Discipline and Multi-Jurisdictional Practice, Cambridge, England, and ABA Reporter at the 2000 U.S. Chief Justices Conference on Multi-Jurisdictional Practice.

Mr. Flaherty regularly presented ethics and law of lawyering CLE presentations in Illinois and nationally, including serving as the featured Speaker for a number of webinars. On more than 50 occasions, Mr. Flaherty has spoken at national and international conferences concerning lawyers’ professional liability and risk management. Alan R. Dolinko now steps into his role at Flaherty & Youngerman PC.