You Want Me To Do What? The Dilemma of Trying to Interpret and Follow Appellate Precedent

Hon. Terrence L. Michael is a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in Tulsa and a member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Tenth Circuit. He has authored more than 170 published opinions, as well as articles in the Tulsa Law Review, Texas Tech Law Review and Creighton Law Review. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Michael joined the firm of Baird, Holm, McEachen, Pedersen, Hamann & Strasheim in Omaha, Neb., where he was a member of the firm’s bankruptcy and creditors’ rights practice group. His practice included all types of bankruptcy matters and general civil litigation. While at Baird, Holm, Judge Michael chaired the Bankruptcy Section of the Nebraska State Bar Association and was a member of the local rules committee responsible for drafting local rules in chapter 12 cases. He also authored and presented numerous papers at various continuing legal education seminars. Judge Michael has taught courses for the American Banker’s Association School of Agri-Finance and Metro Technical Community College. On June 9, 1997, he began his career as a bankruptcy judge, and on June 7, 2000, he was appointed to the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Tenth Circuit, a position he still holds. As a member of the BAP, Judge Michael chaired the committee charged with revising the local rules of that court. He is an associate editor of the American Bankruptcy Law Journal and an adjunct professor of law at the University of Tulsa, and he has served as a speaker at various seminars presented by the Federal Judicial Center, the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference, the Tenth Circuit Judicial Conference, ABI, the Nebraska State Bar Association, the Oklahoma Bar Association, the Tulsa County Bar Association, the West Texas Bar Association and the Southwest Regional Turnaround Management Association.

Judge Michael is a member of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, having served on various committees and the Board of Governors. He received the President’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Conference in 2018.

Judge Michael is an emeritus member of the Council Oak/Johnson-Sontag American Inn of Court, which awarded him the John A. Athens Leadership Award in 2004, and the Nebraska State Bar Association. He was part of a multi-state select choir, which sang in Carnegie Hall in 1999, and recorded his first studio album in collaboration with Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame member and Grammy winner David Teegarden in 2018.

Judge Michael received his B.A. magna cum laude in history from Doane College in 1980 and his J.D. from the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law in 1983.