Michael L. Viola is an attorney with the firm of Shainberg & Viola P.C. which limits its areas of practice to family law.  He received a Juris Doctorate from Temple University School of Law in 1989 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986. He completed the American Sign Language/English Interpreting program at Community College of Philadelphia in 2007.  He is an adjunct professor in the Paralegal Studies Program at Community College of Philadelphia. He is also the Family Law Staff Attorney at Philadelphia VIP, which helps connect low-income individuals with volunteer attorneys to assist them.

Mr. Viola was a trained as a Divorce and Custody Mediator at the Good Shepherd Mediation Program, located in Philadelphia.

He is a member of the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar Associations. With the Pennsylvania Bar Association, he has been active with its Family Law Section, its Gay and Lesbian Rights Committee and its Diversity Team.  With the Philadelphia Bar Association,  he served as the 1997 Chair of the Young Lawyers Division and as the 2001 Chair of the Family Law Section. He chaired the Philadelphia Bar Association's GLBT Rights Committee in 2012, and is co-chairing that committee in 2013.  He is also member of the Court Language Access Task Force.

He is a member of the Family Law Advisory Board of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the Justinian Society of Philadelphia and the treasurer for the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia. He also serves on the Paralegal Advisory Commitee of Community College of Philadelphia.

Mr. Viola has been an instructor in the area of domestic relations for the Pennsylvania Bar Istitute and for area pro bono organizations including Philadelphia VIP and the Legal Clinic for the Disabled.

Mr. Viola has also been the recipient of several awards including an Award of Appreciation from the Pennsylvania Bar Association Young Lawyers Division in 1994, the Michael K. Smith Excellence in Service Award in 1998, Awards of Appreciation from the Legal Clinic for Disabled in 1995 and 2002, a Pennsylvania Bar Association Pro Bono Award in 2003 and the “Strut your Stuff” Award from the Legal Clinic for the Disabled in 2006.

Mr. Viola is listed in The Pennsylvania "Super Lawyers" published in Philadelphia Magazine. He is "AV" rated by Martindale-Hubbell.