A sidebar with Michael Stone.

Byline: Thomas Franz

Cybersecurity expert Michael A. Stone has landed a senior counsel position with Warner Norcross + Judd LLP in Southfield after spending the last 10 years on active duty with the Michigan National Guard.

Stone will be a part of the firm's Cybersecurity and Privacy and Government Contracting practice groups. In the military, he was an assistant adjutant general, deputy director and commanding general of the 46th Military Police Command of the Michigan National Guard. He was deployed overseas on three occasions, including two combat tours in the Persian Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Stone spoke with Michigan Lawyers Weekly about his time in the military and his new role at WNJ.

How did you decide to transition from a military career to one in law?

I always aspired to practice law in Michigan. I joined the National Guard 32 years ago and was a citizen soldier for a long time and commanded units in Michigan while I was going to law school and as a young trial lawyer and then as a corporate lawyer.

I've been full-time with the Army for almost a decade, but the transition has been great. It's been great to connect with the legal community after being out of practicing for almost 10 years. Leaving the National Guard, along that way I've had multiple deployments and worked in the Pentagon, but coming back to a place like WNJ has been very smooth.

How did you get into cybersecurity?

It started about nine years ago. There are presidentially-directed national planning scenarios, and one of them is a direct cyberattack on critical infrastructure. Starting nine years ago, I began working that issue to look at how Michigan and the country would defend itself against a deliberate cyberattack. If you look at the history of cyber, go back 10 years and nobody was talking about this stuff.

Gov. Rick Snyder came along and made this a priority, and we launched a number of programs in Michigan that are globally recognized. I was part of the cyber executive team for Gov. Snyder. That led me to working with...