Judge Mike K. Nakagawa
United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Nevada
Mike K. Nakagawa was appointed to the bench in 2006. He graduated in 1980 from the School of Law at the University of California in Davis, where he was an editor of the U.C. Davis Law Review and a faculty-sponsored tutor in the area of civil procedure. He previously had obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
Judge Nakagawa was admitted to practice in California in 1980 and served an extended judicial clerkship with the Honorable Philip C. Wilkins, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento. He entered private practice in 1984 and was admitted to practice in Nevada in 1987. He was a partner in the law firm of Cooper, Nakagawa & Briseno, and concluded private practice as the founder of Nakagawa & Rico before his judicial appointment. His practice emphasized bankruptcy, commercial, and business litigation matters. He represented debtors, creditors, committees, trustees, and other parties in interest in Chapter 11 proceedings throughout California, as well as in Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, Illinois and New Jersey. He also represented consumer debtors in Chapter 7 liquidation cases and represented many standing Chapter 7 trustees in the Eastern District of California as well.
He frequently served as a resolution advocate for the Bankruptcy Dispute Resolution Program for the Eastern District of California. He was a panelist in bankruptcy matters for the Voluntary Dispute Resolution Program for the United States District Court for the Eastern District as well.
From 1995 through 2005, Judge Nakagawa taught bankruptcy law and reorganization at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento as an adjunct professor, and also at Lincoln Law School in downtown Sacramento. He was a presenter at continuing legal education programs in the Sacramento region and a participant on numerous education panels sponsored by the California Bankruptcy Forum, the bankruptcy section of the annual meeting of Eastern District of California, and the bankruptcy section of the local county bar association. He served as a lawyer representative to the Judicial Conference of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge Nakagawa also was a member of the Civil Service Commission for the County of Sacramento, which had responsibility for administering the personnel system for the county, including employee disciplinary appeals (terminations, suspensions, drug testing, etc.) and employee classifications. He served on the Commission for thirteen years and as its chairperson on three separate occasions.
|
Print This Page