Custody & parental responsibilities
Workable plans for a child’s care and the decisions that shape their life, built to survive real schedules.
Family law · Lake County
Calm is a discipline.
Michael A. Anderson learned steadiness as a U.S. Army Paratrooper and a Chicago Police Sergeant. Now he practices it as a family law partner at Davis Friedman, for Lake County families whose lives are changing shape.
Lake County, Illinois
Partner, Davis Friedman
U.S. Army Paratrooper Chicago Police Sergeant Sergeants’ Union Representative J.D. · Dean’s List CALI Award · Evidence B.A. Accounting Partner · Davis Friedman Super Lawyers Rising Stars · 2022–2026
01 The Advocate
Steady under pressure isn’t a slogan. It’s a résumé.
Before he argued in Cook County courtrooms, Michael answered calls on Chicago streets. Before that, he jumped out of airplanes for the U.S. Army.
That history shapes the way he practices: direct questions, close reading of the record, composure that doesn’t crack when a hearing turns contested. At Davis Friedman he handles all aspects of family law, from custody and allocation of parental responsibilities to relocation, child support modification, property distribution, and the complex financial matters where his accounting degree does quiet work.
For two years he stood up for fellow officers as a representative of the Chicago Police Sergeants Union. In law school he made the Dean’s List, won the CALI Award in Evidence, and spent two years in the Veterans Clinic helping veterans appeal their disability benefits. Advocacy for people in uniform has been most of his adult life.
Selected to Super Lawyers Rising Stars2022–2026
Admitted to the Illinois Bar2017
J.D., The John Marshall Law SchoolDean’s List
B.A. Accounting, Northeastern University2013
Illinois, Chicago & Northwest Suburban Bar AssociationsMember
John McNicholas Pediatric Brain Tumor FoundationMember
He wore this city’s uniform before he ever argued in its courtrooms.
Lake Shore Drive, after hours
02 The Work
Family matters turn on details: a schedule, a pension, a line in a financial affidavit. Michael reads all of it, negotiates hard for a settlement, and litigates without hesitation when settlement fails.
Relocation
A move changes a parenting arrangement. The details deserve attention before the boxes are packed.
Child support modification
When work or home changes, support may need to change with it, in either direction.
Property division
A clear accounting of what the marriage built, and what a fair division actually looks like.
Complex financial matters
Pensions, businesses, records that don’t quite add up. An accountant’s eye, a litigator’s use for it.
For police, fire & military families, the details are different.
Rotating tours. Pension division. Orders that redraw the calendar mid-plan. Nobody has to explain these to Michael. He lived them, and he represented the sergeants who live them still.
The full guide for first responder families 03 Contact