Michael Hatfield is a Professor of Law at the University of Washington. Previously he was a Professor of Law at Texas Tech University, where he served as the Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research and held the Glenn D. West Research Professorship. Previously, Michael was a shareholder in Schoenbaum, Curphy & Scanlan, P.C., in San Antonio, Texas and an associate in two New York City law firms: Debevoise & Plimpton and Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett.

In addition to writing on tax lawyer ethics, he has also written on legal ethics more generally, taxation, trusts and estates, and law and religion. His research has been published in the Florida Tax Review, the Northwestern Law Review Colloquy, the NYU Annual Survey of American Law, the Baylor Law Review, the Notre Dame Journal of Ethics and Public Policy, the Lewis & Clark Law Review, the Texas Tech Law Review, Tax Notes and the Johns Hopkins University Press. With Baylor Law School Mills Cox Professor of Law Thomas M. Featherston, Jr. he co-authored Q&A: Wills, Trusts and Estates (2nd. ed., 2008). He teaches courses in taxation, professional responsibility, and wills and trusts.