As a creditor’s rights attorney I enjoy dealing with lien rights in vessels, airplanes, mining claim, oil rigs, timber, wells and mines, real property, and leases of every kind. Every day I embrace the challenges our big state has to offer.
Michelle is a highly experienced attorney who has been practicing law in Alaska since 1986, with a focus on commercial collection and lender representation. Before entering private practice, she clerked for U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Herbert A. Ross from 1986 -1988 and served as a staff attorney then as lead counsel for FDIC’s Alaska Legal Department (1989-1993). Michelle represents private businesses, banks, and credit unions in large commercial collection matters and in bankruptcy cases, including defending preference claims.
More Bio
Recognized since 2007 in Litigation - Bankruptcy. 
Admitted to Practice
- Alaska
- United States District Court, District of Alaska
- United States Court of Appeals, Ninth circuit
Education
- J.D., Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, MN
- B.S. with honors, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Outstanding Justice Student of the Year in 1983
Memberships & Recognition
- Super Lawyers
- Best Lawyers
- Alaska Legal Elite
- Recipient of Alaska Bar Association, Board of Governors, Professionalism Award in 2014
- Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year in Alaska Bankruptcy Litigation category in 2012
- Past attorney representative to the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference
- Current Chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Alaska Bar Association
Additional
Presentations
Alaska Annual Construction Law Conference, sponsored by the Seminar Group, 2011, 2013, and 2015, “What Happens When Someone in in the Chain Goes Bankrupt” and general bankruptcy and insolvency in construction projects.
ALTA (Alaska Land Title Association) convention February 3, 2017, presentation on judicial foreclosures in Alaska.
