MERRILEE A. MacLEAN Phone: 425.454.3374 Fax: 425.454.0087 Email: mmaclean@hansonbaker.com Download vCard Download Bio

PRACTICE EMPHASIS AND EXPERIENCE

• Creditors' Rights

Assists clients in all aspects of credit management
Collection of judgments and pursuing fraud claims
Represents claimants of all types in bankruptcy matters

Experienced in receiverships in state and federal courts

• Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Appears regularly in state and federal court and bankruptcy courts around the country
Served as expert witness on commercial collection matters
Argued appeals in Washington and Alaska Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel

Senior counsel to the firm, Merrilee’s practice focuses on creditors’ rights, commercial collections, and bankruptcy.  Generally representing creditors in all aspects of bankruptcy practice, she has been selected to be committee counsel in a number of large cases, been appointed trustee in chapter 11 cases, and served several years as a chapter 7 panel trustee.  She practices in bankruptcy courts throughout the country.  Active in the bar, she served on the Bankruptcy Court’s Local Rules Committee for over fifteen years, served four years on the Advisory Board of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council and was selected to serve on the Executive Committee to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.  She is currently a member of the Board of the Wombats (Women Bankruptcy Attorneys) and served on the Legislative Committee to the Washington State Bar Association for a number of years.  Prior to entering law school, she worked in the credit department of Crocker Bank in San Francisco, and was a credit manager for Stauffer Chemical Company, headquartered in Westport, Connecticut.  In 2014, she was selected to be a visiting lecturer, teaching commercial law at Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania.

EDUCATION

J.D., University of California, Hastings College of the Law, 1982
  Chief Managing Editor, Hastings International & Comparative Law Review
B.S., Lewis and Clark College, 1974 in History, magna cum laude

National Institute for Trial Advocacy, General Litigation Program 1985, Bankruptcy Litigation Program, 1992

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Served as Creditors’ Committee Counsel on numerous bankruptcy cases, including Pacific Linen and Skippers Fish & Chips as well as smaller companies
• Served as Investors’ Committee Counsel on Harder/Sunwest bankruptcy and receivership, representing over 1300 investors owed over $435 million – recovery is expected to exceed 50%
• Defends preference actions in bankruptcy courts throughout the United States
• Represented asset purchaser in Ballard Computer and Precision Airmotive bankruptcy cases
• Enforced agricultural and PACA lien rights for clients in numerous bankruptcy proceedings, resulting in full recovery for clients

ARTICLES AND PRESENTATIONS

Published articles in the King County Bar Bulletin and The Bankruptcy Strategist
Speaker at Continuing Education Programs on bankruptcy, receivership and lien issues
Conducted Interview of Justice Anthony Kennedy at Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, 2006
Presenter at meetings of the Chief District Judges and Chief Bankruptcy Judges of the Ninth Circuit

HONORS / AWARDS / UNIQUE RECOGNITION

Rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell* since 1992

Rated 10.0 "Superb" by AVVO

Named as a "Super Lawyer" by Washington Law & Politics and Thomas Reuters since 2000

Named as a 2013 Top Rated Lawyer in Corporate Restructuring and Bankruptcy by American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell

Featured in Seattle Metropolitan as one of The Top Women Attorneys in Washington since 2013
Named as a Top Lawyer in Washington by Washington CEO and Seattle Metropolitan since 2008

Received Distinguished Service Award from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2006
Named to Who’s Who in American Law in 1994
Citation for Outstanding Service, Lewis and Clark College, 1997

PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC INVOLVEMENT

Local Rules Committee, Bankruptcy Court for Western District of Washington 1995-2014

Member, Legislative Committee to Washington State Bar Association 2007-2014

President Federal Bar Association of the Western District of Washington 1999-2000

Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference 2000-2002

Executive Committee to Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference 2003-2005

Advisory Board to Ninth Circuit Judicial Council 2006-2009

Board Member, Wombats (Women Bankruptcy Attorneys), member since 1993

Member, National Board of Alumni, Lewis and Clark College, serving as President 1994-1996

Board Member, Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra 1985-1988

Founder, WAEWAG, Eastside Women's Lawyers Group

BAR / COURT ADMISSIONS

Washington State Bar Association (Bar No. 12732)
United States District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle)
United States District Court, Eastern District of Washington (Spokane)

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States District Court for the District of Hawaii

PERSONAL

Merrilee is a published travel writer and photographer, and spends her free time traveling or planning trips.

*AV is a registered certification mark of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies.