Michael Tooley

Mike is one of those rare people fortunate enough to be able to blend the pursuit of two professional passions in the same career: practicing law at Ice Miller and serving as Co-Founder and Leadership and Strengths Coach of Upstream Principles LLC. At Ice Miller, Mike Chairs the Firm’s Workplace Solutions Group and acts as general employment counselor and advocate for employers regarding daily workforce issues, collective bargaining, arbitration, administrative proceedings before the NLRB, EEOC and other federal and state agencies, and employment litigation in state and federal courts. Mike also serves as Ice Miller’s Coaching Partner, a unique position created by the Firm to provide one-on-one professional coaching services to lawyers and other professionals within the Firm at all levels of experience interested in developing their strengths and advancing their careers. From more than 29 years of representing employers in various workplace disputes, Mike discovered that the "secret sauce" for winning workplace disputes is to prevent them from arising in the first place, and the best way to do that is by helping organizations and their leaders create better workplaces in which their employees are developed, cultivated, and engaged. Because he believed in this formula so strongly, Mike supplemented his legal practice by becoming a certified coach and co-founding Upstream Principles LLC, an Ice Miller affiliate dedicated to providing leadership coaching and employee development training. As a coach, Mike coaches leaders and teams on how to recognize and develop their strengths, with the goal of creating better workplaces, more engaged and productive workforces, and fewer employment disputes. Mike was born in Henderson, Kentucky, and received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 1988, graduating summa cum laude. He holds a J.D. from Duke University School of Law, where he graduated with high honors in 1991. Mike is certified by the International Coaching Federation as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and by Gallup as a Strengths Coach. In addition, Mike received his Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies in 2020. As a life-long learner, he also has become certified in The Leadership Circle Profile™ 360 evaluation; the EQi/EQ 360 and TalentSmart Emotional Intelligence (“EQ”) assessments for leaders and teams; The Six Types of Working Genius assessment; and the Modern Elder Academy's Living and Working on Purpose program.