Michael is a Vancouver, Washington attorney with a broad range of interests and experiences. Before establishing his solo practice, he was in-house counsel at PacifiCorp, focusing on FERC regulatory issues related to the merchant function, with an emphasis on standards of conduct, EQR, and OATT applications. His twenty-plus years at PacifiCorp also included substantial experience with state regulatory issues, preparing rate cases for several of the six states served by PacifiCorp.

His extensive legal and economic experience have prepared him to understand the complex issues related to bankruptcy cases.

Michael earned a B.S. in applied mathematics from Weber State University, with a minor in physics. While at Weber State, he competed on the university’s college bowl team, was very active in a wide range of performing arts as part of an extensive study of musical theatre, and was awarded the university’s Crystal Crest award as “Personality of the Year”.

Michael continued his education at the University of Utah, where he completed a Master of Statistics degree in Econometrics. He applied his statistics skills in developing a computer model to predict college football scores, which he continues to use in posting admirable results in various annual basketball tournament contests. He formerly taught economics at Washington State University’s Vancouver campus.

Two years after completing his master’s degree, he received his J.D. degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, with a certificate in federal tax law. He competed with Lewis & Clark’s tax moot court team, which earned best overall brief in Tampa, Florida.

Michael is licensed to practice law in Oregon and Washington. He served five years as a member of the Oregon State Bar’s Quality of Life Committee, which is chartered with encouraging attorneys to seek ways to find balance between their professional and personal lives; is a past member of the Oregon Bar’s Energy, Telecom & Utility Law Section and is active in the Clark County legal community.

Michael lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his beautiful wife, Suzanne, an educator, and their four extraordinary children. He participates in various activities with the Evergreen School District, wishes he could still bike to work, collects jazz and Broadway recordings, and enjoys volunteering at church and with Vancouver’s Magenta Theater.