Michael Lee is a California State Bar Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law and serves as the 2025 Chair of the California Board of Legal Specialization. He is licensed to practice in California, Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, and the District of Columbia, as well as specialized federal courts including the US Tax Court and the Court of Federal Claims.
Before entering private practice, Michael served as an attorney with the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada and the Internal Revenue Service. In his private practice, Michael focuses on debtor-side bankruptcy law, estate and trust planning, complex domestic and international gift/estate tax, and tax controversy.
Michael’s teaching and research interests include bankruptcy law, debtor-creditor rights, trust law, estate and gift taxation, and international comparative law. His past courses include bankruptcy, debtor-creditor rights, taxation of gratuitous transfers, estate planning, and non-law courses such as comparative politics and eclectic literature (Willa Cather, Rolando Hinojosa-Smith, Octavio Paz, Haruki Murakami, Bernardo Atxaga, and David Foster Wallace).
Outside of his legal career, Michael is married to a fellow SCU Law graduate and is a father of a son and daughter. He is an active member of the San Jose Rotary Club, a 'room parent' for his children's school, and involved in various other Bay Area charitable activities.