Michael Alan White

Overview of the Firm

The firm was founded in 1975, and is the oldest law firm in private practice in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.  We have a general trial and appellate practice in all courts of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau, with an emphasis on business and commercial litigation, including collections.

Biographical Data and Education

I am Michael A. White, the Firm's principal.  I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 12, 1945.  I graduated from Cheltenham High School in Wyncote, PA, in June of 1962.  I was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University in June of 1966, and a Juris Doctor degree from Temple University School of Law, Philadelphia, PA, in June of 1969.

I speak, read, and write the following languages:  English, Chamorro, (and with less fluency) French, and German.

Experience

I practiced as an associate in a small firm in Philadelphia from 1969 to 1970.  I served as Staff Attorney with the Congress of Micronesia from 1970 to 1976, the first 18 months of which were as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  I have been in private practice continuously since 1975, in Saipan.

Professional Qualifications

I am admitted to the bars of the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the District of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Supreme and Superior Courts of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Supreme Court of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Palau, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (inactive).

I served as:

     * Member, 1980-93, and Vice-Chairman, 1982-93, Northern Marianas Law Revision Commission.

     * Chairman, CNMI Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure, 1993-99.

     * Chairman, CNMI Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Rules of Appellate Procedure, 2001-02.

     * Special CNMI Judge, 1995-2001.

     * Member, House of Delegates, American Bar Association, 1993-2001 (alternate years with Guam).

     * Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, 2000-present.  (Presently Life Fellow.)

     * Member, Executive Council, National Conference of Bar Presidents, 1998-2001; Chair, Committee on Articles and Bylaws, 1999-2001.

     * Lawyer Representative, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, 1980-82, 1985-87, and 1991-93.

     * Panelist, "Enforcement of Foreign Judgments", Pacific Judicial Conference, 2001.

     * Pro Bono Service Award, "Gimmie Five" Program Attorney of the Year, 2000.

     * Member, Northern Mariana Islands (Co-Founder, 1980; President, 1980-82, 1990-91, and 1993-98; Director, 1983 and 1998-2001; Vice-President, 1989-90; and Chair, Committee on Diversity, 2001), Philadelphia (associate), and American Bar Associations.

Community Service

Member, 1980-98, and Chairman, 1980-81, 1987-88, 1989-90, and 1993-94, Board of Trustees, Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund.

Member, 2012-present, Northern Marianas Humanities Council.

Member, Central Board, International Basketball Federation (FIBA), 1998-2002.

Member, Board of Directors, FIBA Oceania, 1997-2001 and 2005-2013.

Member, Pacific Games Council, 2003-present.

President, 2003-present; Director, 1999-present; and Vice-President, 2001, Northern Marianas Sports Association.

Co-Founder, 1980, Secretary-Treasurer and Director, Basketball Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, 1980-2014.

Member, Advisory Board, CNMI Public Radio Station KRNM-FM, 1998-2003.

CNMI Foster Parent of the Year, 2003.

Peace Corps Volunteer, 1970-71.

Honorary Consul, Republic of Vanuatu, 2002-03.

Representative Clients

Banking and Finance:  Bank of Hawaii; Bank of Guam; Bank of the Federated States of Micronesia; Bank of Saipan; Union Bank of California; City Trust Bank; The Financial and Insurance Services Group; BankPacific, Ltd.; LPP Mortgage; First American Title Insurance & Escrow.

Insurance:  National Union Fire Insurance Co.; Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co.

Government Agencies:  Commonwealth Utilities Corporation; Northern Marianas Housing Corporation; Northern Marianas College; Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund; Commonwealth Government Employees Credit Union

Retail and Commercial: J. C. Tenorio Enterprises, Inc.; Town House, Inc.; Coca-Cola Beverage Co. (Micronesia), Inc.; McDonald's Corporation; Triple J Saipan, Inc.; Atkins Kross (CNMI), Inc.; Joeten Motor Co., Inc.; Mobil Oil Marianas, Inc.; Jones & Guerrero Co., Inc.

About the Northern Mariana Islands

The Northern Mariana Islands is a US territory, just north of Guam -- about 3800 miles west of Hawaii and 1500 miles east of the Philippines.  The principal island is Saipan, where about 90% of the population resides.   Guam is geographically a part of the Marianas, but politically separate.

 The Marianas were originally colonized by Spain. When the Spanish lost their little war in 1898, they ceded Guam to the USA, which wanted it for a coaling station. Guam has been a US territory ever since.

But the US didn't need the rest of the islands to the north, so Spain sold them to Germany in 1899. Japan, which already dominated trade in the region, declared war on Germany in August of 1914, and quickly moved into the Northern Marianas. After Germany lost WW I, Japan was awarded a League of Nations mandate, which included not only the Northern Marianas but the Carolines and Marshalls as well.

As war again loomed, Japan began to fortify the islands in violation of the terms of the mandate. The islands of Micronesia were the scene of some of the fiercest battles of WWII, as the US island-hopped across the Pacific: Kwajalein, Peleliu, and Saipan. The Japanese put up quite a fight here, realizing that the loss of Saipan put the home islands well within the range of US bombers. In fact, the B-29s that dropped nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki took off from Tinian, a smaller island just three miles across the channel from Saipan (and the last stop of the USS Indianapolis, which delivered the weapons, before it was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in the Philippine Sea).

After the war, the islands were governed by the USA, as a United Nations trusteeship. The people of the Northern Marianas voted to become a permanent part of the USA, and became a US Commonwealth (somewhat like Puerto Rico) in 1979.

We've got a saying here: the Spanish came for God; the Germans came for gold; the Japanese came for glory; but the Americans came for good!

We're US citizens.  Our government is just like a state government, with a popularly-elected Governor, a bicameral legislature, and an independent judiciary. We're part of the US court system, with our own District Court (part of the Ninth Circuit). The Internal Revenue Code applies here, but as a territorial income tax; we pay our money to the local government instead of to Washington.

Everyone speaks English, except the very old people (who were of course taught Japanese). The local people also speak one or both of the native languages, Chamorro and Carolinian. Chamorro has a lot of Spanish vocabulary, but the grammar is completely different.

Our economy is based on tourism, mostly from Korea and China; we're the closest US soil to those countries, just three hours and change south of Tokyo, but we're really too far to attract a significant number of tourists from the Mainland USA. 

We're a part of the US Postal Service system. It costs the same 49c to mail a letter as it does anywhere else in the country.

A lot of people ask me what our postal code, "MP", stands for. When we were part of the former Trust Territory, our postal code was "TT", which made a lot of sense. When we became a US Commonwealth, the USPS gave us "CM", for Commonwealth of the Marianas. And then, for some reason, they decided that wasn't good enough, and wanted to change it. We asked them for "MA", which stands for "MAriana Islands", but that was taken. So we asked for "MI", again for "Mariana Islands", but the people in Michigan didn't want to give that up. So the USPS gave us "MP"; they never told us what it meant, but I figure it must stand for "Middle of the Pacific".

And oh, by the way, the weather. It never goes below 72 or over 88 degrees F (22 to 30 C). We get 360 days of sunshine a year, with frequent but usually brief tropical showers to cool things off. Life is good.