Michael McAuliffe has been a practicing lawyer for over 30 years. He was a federal prosecutor serving both as a supervisory assistant US attorney in the Southern District of Florida and a trial attorney in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Michael was hired through the Justice Department's Honors Program.

In 2008, Michael was elected as the state attorney for Palm Beach County and served until 2012. He managed an office of over 120 prosecutors, led the successful efforts to pass ethics reforms in Palm Beach County and fought public corruption.

For several years, Michael has been an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary Law School and a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. He is a regular contributor to the op-ed pages of newpapers and is frequently quoted in national news articles on legal issues.