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Michael B. Wallace

Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Nomination Returned December 11, 2006
  • Michael Wallace is a well-respected Mississippi attorney who possesses extensive experience in the fields of constitutional and commercial litigation.
    • Mr. Wallace has been nominated to the Fifth Circuit, which hears appeals from the federal district courts of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The seat to which he has been nominated has been deemed a judicial emergency.
    • He has the strong support of both his home state senators, Senator Cochran and Senator Lott.
  • Mr. Wallace has a distinguished record as a practicing attorney in the public and private sectors.
    • Since 1986, Mr. Wallace has worked as a partner for the highly respected Jackson, Mississippi, firm of Phelps Dunbar in the areas of constitutional and commercial litigation. He has handled several significant election law matters, including congressional redistricting and voting rights cases. Mr. Wallace’s clients have included Phillip Morris, Ford Motor Company, and Mississippi Baptist Health Systems.
    • Mr. Wallace served as an appointed member of the Administrative Conference of the United States from 1984 to 1994. The Conference’s primary responsibility was to examine administrative processes in Congress and federal agencies for the purpose of recommending improvements.
    • From 1984 to 1990, Mr. Wallace served as a board member of the Legal Services Corporation, a private, non-profit corporation established by Congress to promote the availability of legal services to the indigent. He served as board chairman from 1988 to 1990.
    • Between 1983 and 1986, Mr. Wallace worked for the Jackson, Mississippi, firm of Jones, Mockbee & Bass. There he handled domestic legal matters, commercial litigation, and constitutional litigation, including a congressional redistricting case.
    • From 1980 to 1983 Mr. Wallace served as counsel for then-Congressman Trent Lott, Republican Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. In that position, Mr. Wallace advised Representative Lott on legal matters. Mr. Wallace returned to work for Senator Lott as a special counsel in 1999.
    • Mr. Wallace began his professional career in 1978 with the Biloxi, Mississippi, firm of Sekul, Hornsby, Wallace & Teel, where he focused on state court litigation, including divorces, child custody disputes, real estate disputes, and commercial litigation.
  • Mr. Wallace has excellent academic credentials and professional training.
    • He served as a law clerk for the Honorable Harry G. Walker of the Supreme Court of Mississippi and the Honorable William H. Rehnquist, then-Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
    • He graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1973. In 1976, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia College of Law, where he served on the Virginia Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif.