Jessica M. Mickelsen

Jessica M. Mickelsen focuses her practice in the areas of bankruptcy and creditors’ rights and commercial litigation, with a substantive concentration in business and insolvency matters. She has represented creditors and bankruptcy trustees in a wide range of bankruptcy matters, with a particular focus on Chapter 11 reorganizations.

Prior to joining Katten, Ms. Mickelsen was an associate at one of the oldest and largest law firms in Honolulu, Hawaii, representing clients in bankruptcy matters and complex commercial litigation and foreclosure actions. During that time, she successfully advocated for the dismissal of novel bankruptcy law claims; obtained relief from the automatic stay for creditors seeking to foreclose on property, including single asset real estate; advanced mediation and obtained judgment against defendants in adversary proceedings; assisted in the settlement of million-dollar claims against bankrupt estates; and contested plan confirmations.

Ms. Mickelsen served as law clerk to the Honorable David Alan Ezra in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii from 2006 to 2007 and to the Honorable Mary Ellen Barbera in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals (now on the Court of Appeals of Maryland) from 2005 to 2006. While clerking for Judge Ezra, Ms. Mickelsen assisted in writing opinions for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit when Judge Ezra sat by designation.

Ms. Mickelsen received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and communication studies with class honors from the University of Michigan, where she was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society, and a recipient of the Outstanding Student Leader Award. She earned her Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from American University Washington College of Law. During law school, Ms. Mickelsen was a member of the Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, participated in the Intellectual Property Law Clinic and served as an extern for the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section.

Ms. Mickelsen assists with the management of Katten’s California Public Counsel Adoption Program, which provides the necessary legal work to finalize adoptions of foster care children due to abuse or neglect. She is a member of the California State Bar Association, the Business and Commercial Law and Bankruptcy sections of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute and the Hawaii Bankruptcy Bar Association. Ms. Mickelsen is admitted to practice in California, Hawaii, the District of Columbia and Maryland.