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Michel ("Mike") C. Daisley has practiced law in the Charlotte region throughout his entire 23-year legal career. Specializing in civil litigation, insurance claims and injury law, he has represented a wide diversity of clients -- from indigent families as well as community charities, to multi-billion dollar international corporations and small independent businesses.
Born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1955, Mike grew up in Greenville, and first arrived in North Carolina in 1974, as a freshman entering Davidson College. There he played on the junior varsity basketball team, and distinguished himself in the college’s “Center for Interdisciplinary Studies” where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy in 1978. Following graduation, Mike worked with an Atlanta ad agency and then returned to his alma mater to lead its corporate fund-raising as Davidson College's "Director of Corporate Programs."
In his mid-twenties, Mike left the administration at Davidson College, and made the decision to study law. After earning a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1985, he accepted a position with the Charlotte law firm of Erwin, Beddow & Reese, which merged one year later with one of North Carolina’s largest firms, Weinstein & Sturges. By the end of his first three years of practice, Mike had tried four civil trials to verdict, and argued before the North Carolina Supreme Court twice.
In 1993, Mike left private practice to join Royal Insurance in its national headquarters in Charlotte, as Chief Counsel to the company’s Major Claims Unit. He returned to private practice this time on the plaintiffs’ side in 1995, joining forces with Jamie Wells to form Wells & Daisley in 1997. The following year, the firm moved its offices to its present location in Charlotte’s historic Dilworth neighborhood, near the South End District.
Mike has been an active member in Charlotte's political scene for decades. In 1996, he took time away from practice and won the Democratic Primary for U.S. Congress, before losing to the Republican incumbent in the general election. He was a founding member of Charlotte’s Uptown Democratic Forum, had a year-long stint as a guest columnist for the Charlotte Observer, and is a frequent guest legal and political analyst on Charlotte's largest "news-talk" radio station, WBT 1100. He currently serves as counsel to the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party.
Numerous professional and community organizations benefit from Mike’s involvement and leadership. In addition to his memberships in the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, the American Bar Association, and American Trial Lawyers Association, Mike spent three years as president of the Mecklenburg Trial Lawyers Association (METLA).
For more than twenty-five years, he has served the local chapter of National Multiple Sclerosis Society as a Trustee. In that role, he helped organize the first "The Great Gatsby Gala" to raise funds for MS research and programs, an annual event that is now in its third decade. He currently also serves on the Board of Directors for The Choir School at St. Peter’s (Episcopal), and has served on the Board of Advisors for the Dowd YMCA.
Mike is an active parishioner of Christ Episcopal Church, where he teaches "Rite 13" Sunday School, and graduated from the four-year "Education For Ministry" program for laypersons.
He is an avid Davidson Basketball fan, and part-time "Y-rat."
Mike has been married to a CMS school teacher for 20 years. He and his wife have a teenage son.
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