Merrilee A. MacLean is a graduate of Lewis and Clark College (B.S. History, magna cum laude, 1974) and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (J.D. 1982), where she was Chief Managing Editor of the Hastings International and Comparative Law Review. She is also a graduate of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and its Bankruptcy Litigation Program.

A shareholder with the firm, Ms. MacLean’s practice focuses on creditor’s rights, commercial collections, bankruptcy, and real estate litigation. Generally representing creditors in all aspects of bankruptcy practice, she has also been appointed a trustee for chapter 11 cases and served several years as a chapter 7 panel trustee. She has served as an expert witness in commercial collection and bankruptcy matters and argued appeals in the Washington State Court of Appeals, the Supreme Courts of Washington and Alaska, and the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel.

Ms. MacLean is currently a member of the Advisory Board to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council as well as the Bankruptcy Court’s Local Rules Committee. She previously served on the Executive Committee of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference following a three year term as a lawyer representative to that Conference. In 2007 Ms. MacLean was appointed to the Legislative Committee of the Washington State Bar Association, which reviews pending legislation before the Washington State legislature.She is a former president of the Federal Bar Association of the Western District of Washington, where she has also  served as chair of the Association’s Bankruptcy and Ethics and Practice committees. She was selected to serve on the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee to the U.S. District Court and has held officer or board positions with the Turnaround Management Association and the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ms. MacLean is a frequent presenter at continuing education programs and has been selected to speak at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and annual meetings of the Chief Bankruptcy Judges of the Ninth Circuit. She has been published in "The Bankruptcy Strategist", the “King County Bar Bulletin” and served as a contributor to a manual for legal professionals. She has been rated “AV” by Martindale Hubbell, been repeatedly named a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law & Politics Magazine, and was selected for Who’s Who in American Law in 1994.

Prior to entering law school, Ms. MacLean worked in the credit department of Crocker Bank in San Francisco, and was a credit manager for Stauffer Chemical Company, headquartered in Westport, Connecticut.