About Michael J.
Michael J. McGrail earned his bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University in 1993 and a J.D. from Boston College Law School in 2001. Those formative years established the legal foundations he would build on in private practice. The combination of an undergraduate liberal arts education and professional legal training shaped his approach to the everyday work of a lawyer.
He has served as a partner at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP. During his time at the firm he took on responsibilities common to senior lawyers: managing client relationships, directing teams of associates, and participating in strategy decisions. His role required balancing courtroom-ready preparation with the longer arc of transactional and compliance matters.
Mr. McGrail is admitted to practice in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. That dual admission has allowed him to represent clients under both state and federal law in those jurisdictions. He has handled matters that required coordination across local and federal requirements and has worked with outside counsel when engagements extended beyond those states.
Colleagues and clients have relied on his experience at a large firm to navigate complex matters. He has been involved in cases and transactions that called for detailed factual work and clear legal analysis. At the partner level he assumed responsibility for supervising debates over strategy, reviewing substantive filings, and ensuring that teams met the procedural demands of different forums.
Throughout his career McGrail has balanced litigation readiness with the demands of transactional practice. He moves between drafting pleadings and negotiating agreements with the same attention to process. That steadiness has informed how he allocates resources on matters and communicates expected outcomes to clients.
Now in private practice, he continues to work with a range of clients in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. His current practice focuses on advising clients on legal issues arising under state and federal law in those jurisdictions.
