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Mike previously served as in-house General Counsel for Skills Fund, a venture-backed fintech operating at the intersection of three highly regulated industries (consumer finance, banking, and education). At Skills Fund, he built the company’s compliance engine, negotiated complex financing and licensing agreements and led legal operations through its successful acquisition.
Prior to his in-house career, Mike served as a Assistant Solicitor General for Texas. Mike has handled cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas Supreme Court, and many federal and state trial and appellate courts, bringing a seasoned litigator’s eye to proactive risk mitigation.
At TENON, Mike leverages his extensive in-house General Counsel experience, his private practice know-how, and his appellate background to help growing companies level up, get acquisition ready, and cut through legal tangles that could hold them back so they can grow while staying safe.
Mike is a graduate of William & Mary Law School and Hillsdale College. He and his wife Stacie have four amazing daughters and one energetic dog (Watson).
TENON was founded by Mike Murphy, a multi-domain attorney and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in government, private practice, and as in-house counsel. Mike observed that startups and SMBs are poorly served by the traditional billable-hour model of most law firms and set out to design a legal services company that aligns incentives of the legal services providers with their business clients.
Before TENON, Mike served as in-house and external General Counsel for a US-based international company engaged in diplomatic real estate development in Africa, large-scale agriculture, and fintech venture capital. Mike oversaw legal operations across three continents and handled over $70M in private US and international financings.
About Tenon
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