Michael McLaughlin is a shareholder of the firm. After obtaining his BA degree at Stanford University and his JD and MBA degrees at Willamette University, he moved to Alaska in 1985 and began work with the firm. His practice areas are focused on regulated oil and gas pipelines, banking (in particular lender liability defense), regulated public utilities, real estate, ANCSA law, and other commercial practice areas. He represents some of the largest commercial interests in Alaska and has been a part of a number of the most important legal events in Alaska's recent history, including the fight over the constitutionality of the attempted endowment of 260,000 acres of state land to the University of Alaska, the battle over ballot measures regarding the regulation of large mines in Alaska, litigation over large timber sales by the University of Alaska, sales and financings of large Alaska infrastructure projects, defense of lenders and loan servicers sued under HAMP and otherwise as a result of the real estate crash in the Great Recession, and efforts to build a gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to the gas distribution system in the Lower 48. In addition, he represents Alaska Native Corporations and other Alaska businesses both large and small with their ongoing legal needs.
