5 Things to Know: Michael Eisenbaum

Michael Eisenbaum has been part of the Woodland Hills-based firm, now known as Gray Duffy Eisenbaum & Lee, for more than 25 years. He took on the role of managing partner in January 2022 and stepped up in leadership by becoming a name partner in 2024.

1. Law wasn’t Eisenbaum’s first career choice. In fact, the idea didn’t crystallize until late in his undergraduate years at Colorado State University. One night out, he was sitting at a table with friends when he overheard a conversation about law school. Pepperdine University came up. Malibu came up. And something about that combination sparked a new curiosity in him. He applied and got accepted.

2. He entered his undergraduate years as a geology major, drawn to the formation of planets, stars and the universe. But by his second year, he realized geology was more of a personal fascination that began as a kid than a solid career path. Political science – with its focus on governments, societies, the human story and the political forces that shaped nations – aligned more naturally with his interests. Geology remains a core passion as he still finds himself looking at the night sky.

3. Eisenbaum is a big history buff. History grounds him. “You need to know where you’ve been to help you understand where you’re going,” he says, a philosophy that not only applies on a personal level, but also as a human race. His strongest intellectual pull is toward the history of war, especially major global conflicts such as World Wars I and II. Those events, he notes, literally shaped the borders and identities of nations.

4. Friendships are key. He has maintained close friendships with people he’s known since elementary school, high school and law school. The long-running connections anchor him in a fast-paced, demanding professional world, he says. When he returns home to Colorado to visit family, he always makes time for old friends.

5. Sports keep him competitive and balanced. Competition is woven into Eisenbaum’s personality, and sports remain the place where that energy finds its purest expression. Softball and golf are his main outlets – offering a mix of camaraderie, strategy and physical activity that fuels his mental sharpness as an attorney.