Biographical Sketch 

Michael St. James is the principal of St. James Law, P.C., a San Francisco Bay Area insolvency firm. Mr. St. James received a Bachelor of Arts from St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland in 1977 and a Juris Doctor from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley in 1980. He acted as Law Clerk to the Honorable Lloyd King, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of California upon graduation from Boalt, and since has focused his practice solely on bankruptcy and insolvency matters. 

In July of 1993, Mr. St. James was one of 155 attorneys in the country to receive the designation "Board Certified -- Business Bankruptcy Law" from the American Bankruptcy Board of Certification, a designation he has maintained to date. 

Mr. St. James has published numerous articles on bankruptcy and insolvency issues, including:

• "Oldden, Letters of Credit and Section 502(b)(6)", October 2002

• "Landlord Beware: Will a Security Deposit Survive a Bankruptcy” 26 Cal. Bankr. L. J. 44 (2001)

• "Slicing and Dicing Executory Contracts," California Bankruptcy Journal, Vol. 22, Nos. 3 & 4

• "Reclamation: A Cost Effective Collection Technique for Trade Creditors," Credit Executive of California, Spring, 1991

• "Federal Tax Liens -- Making Bankruptcy Attractive to Creditors," The Business Lawyer, November, 1990

• "Leasing to a Financially Weak Tenant," ASBB Forum, Summer/Fall, 1990

• "The Equipment Lessor Responds to Bankruptcy: A Practical Approach," The Journal of Equipment Lease Financing, Fall, 1988

• "Fundamentals of Creditor Representation in Bankruptcy," The San Francisco Barrister Law Journal, May 1986

Mr. St. James has lectured on issues of bankruptcy law and bankruptcy taxation to various bar association sections and trade groups. Additionally, he has given a full day course, entitled, Fundamentals of Bankruptcy, under the auspices of the National Business Institute. Mr. St. James recently contributed to the Report of the ABA Tax Section Task Force on the Tax Recommendations to the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, and was a Round Table panelist on Bankruptcy Tax issues at a meeting of the National Bankruptcy Review Commission.

Mr. St. James is also active in various bar associations, including:

• Chapter 11 Subcommittee, 1983 --

• The American Bar Association (Member -- Corporate, Banking and Business Law Section; Business Bankruptcy Committee), 1982 -- 

• Bar Association of San Francisco (Member -- Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section, 1980 --

• Business Lawyer Task Force, 1986 - 1992

• Barristers Club of San Francisco (Chairman, 1985-1986, Commercial Law and Bankruptcy Section).

Also see the Firm's profile.