Michael B. Bittner, Founder and Fractional General Counsel

MB Legal is a fractional general counsel practice for technology, AI, and SaaS companies, founders, and creatives, with additional outside-counsel work for cybersecurity, creative-industry, healthcare-adjacent, and construction businesses. Mike is fractional general counsel to GotSport, a sports technology platform for global sports organizations, and to OnDefend, a cybersecurity consulting and software company.

The practice centers on commercial contracts, SaaS and software licensing agreements, vendor MSAs, data privacy compliance, information security programs (including SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certification support), employment documentation, corporate governance, and construction contracts and liens. The fractional general counsel engagement is embedded: contracts get reviewed before they’re signed, employment agreements go out before the first hire, and compliance questions get answered before they become problems.

Mike built MBLegalOS, the firm’s custom legal operating system, to run it. MBLegalOS encodes the firm’s contract playbooks, compliance checklists, customized skills, and institutional knowledge of each client’s business into agentic workflows that do the first pass on the work growing companies generate in volume: contract review and drafting, compliance monitoring, vendor diligence, legal research. A licensed attorney reviews and verifies every deliverable before it goes out the door. Clients get embedded general counsel coverage at a pace and cost built for companies that aren’t ready for a full-time hire.

Mike has practiced law in Florida for more than two decades. Before founding MB Legal in 2020, he spent sixteen years at Marks Gray, P.A. in Jacksonville, where he litigated construction, commercial, and insurance disputes and served a substantial share of his clients as their day-to-day outside counsel — the same role MB Legal was built to deliver. GotSport and OnDefend have been general counsel clients since the firm’s first month.

Mike is a member of the Florida Bar and holds the CIPP/US certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). He co-chairs the IAPP Jacksonville KnowledgeNet Chapter. He is a current member of the Florida Bar Cybersecurity and Privacy Law Committee (2025–2028). In June 2026, he was appointed Co-Vice Chair of the Florida Bar Business Law Section’s newly created AI Task Force. He previously chaired the Florida Bar Business Law Section’s Computer Law and Technology Committee (2024–2025) and remains an active member.

A Pittsburgh native, Mike has called Jacksonville home since 1997. He lives there with his wife, Lori, and their two children. Outside the practice he is rarely idle: hiking, skiing, mountain biking, the occasional triathlon, and deep-sea fishing off the Florida coast all get their turns, and he reads constantly — usually with several books going at once. He and Lori travel every chance the calendar allows, and the time that matters most is spent with family and friends. His sports loyalties track his biography: Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins by birth; the Jaguars by adoption; and the Florida Gators by degree — twice over.

Publications and speaking

• AI Strategy and Legislative Developments. Florida Bar Business Law Section, 2026 Legislative Update CLE, virtual (with Brian Barakat, Barakat + Bossa, and Peter Maskow, Atherton Galardi Mullen & Reeder PLLC), October 2026.
• The Wiretap Trap: Defending and Avoiding Florida Wiretap Litigation. IAPP Jacksonville KnowledgeNet, virtual session (with Hannah Murphy, Stearns Weaver Miller; moderated by Adam Hubbell), October 2026. Written companion: eight steps to keep your website out of court.
• Before You Prompt: AI, Privilege, and Confidentiality for Florida Lawyers. Florida Bar Business Law Section blog, July 2026.
• Cybersecurity Essentials for Florida Attorneys: Compliance and Protection. Florida Bar Business Law Section, Computer Law & Technology Committee CLE (with Carlos Rodriguez, CA2 Security), November 2025.
• Florida’s Data Privacy Landscape: 2025 Edition. Florida Bar Business Law Section, Computer Law & Technology Committee CLE, March 2025.
• AI Prompting for Legal. Florida Bar Business Law Section, Computer Law & Technology Committee CLE (host/moderator; presented by Cecilia Ziniti, GC AI), September 2024.
• Inside Information: Understanding Data Privacy Legal Protections for U.S. Consumers and Employees. Florida Bar Business Law Section Labor Day Retreat (with Andrica Alexander), September 2023.
• Damages for Breach of Construction Contract: A Practical Guide. Trial Advocate Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 2, Summer 2019.
• Florida Construction Lien Law: A Practical Guide. Trial Advocate Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 2, Spring 2018.
• Electronic Discovery: Understanding the Framework of Florida E-Discovery Law. Trial Advocate Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 2, Spring 2016.
• Maronda Homes, Inc. of Florida v. Lakeview Reserve Homeowners Association: Expanding the Scope of Implied Warranties in Construction Defect Cases. Trial Advocate Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 2, Spring 2014.
• Understanding the Framework of Florida E-Discovery Law. Florida Defense Lawyers Association, Winter Seminar presentation (January 2015) and webinar (November 2015).