Michael M. Sellers

Attorney Mike Sellers has been a fixture on the Iowa legal landscape for more than 45 years. Early in his career, the citizens of Mahaska County elected Mike as their county attorney where he acted as a prosecutor and advised County officials on legal affairs while cultivating his own practice alongside Bob Spayde and Jim Rielly in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

Soon, however, Mike left private practice when he was hand-picked by Governor Robert D. Ray to serve as one of the former governor’s staff attorneys. In this role, Mike worked with Governor Ray on a day-to-day basis, handling matters on the Governor’s behalf and acting as the Governor’s liaison to more than a dozen state agencies. In 1971, Governor Ray appointed Mike to serve as Public Safety Commissioner where he was responsible for statewide law enforcement and safety matters. In the wake of the Kent State shootings in 1970, Mike oversaw the implementation of the first 28E intergovernmental agency agreement in the nation which allowed the Iowa Department of Public Safety to coordinate the activities of multiple local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure that no such tragedy would strike Iowa’s universities. In his role as Public Safety Commissioner, Mike was asked to join a panel at the Riverside College of Law at the University of California to address the appropriate exercise of police power in tumultuous times. He served on that panel with such names as renowned defense attorney F. Lee Bailey and “The King of Torts” Melvin Belli.

Leaving the public sector in 1973, Mike sought to use his experience and skill to protect individuals’ right against government abuses. Mike first became involved with agency law in 1973 and in the 1990s, he narrowed his practice to concentrate primarily on licensing board defense. Every day, Mike offers his guidance to healthcare professionals facing peer review or sanctions by hospitals, medical groups or state and federal agencies. Mike takes pride in exposing false and unfounded claims against physicians and other medical professionals and in demonstrating how his clients’ rights have been violated. Mike knows how pervasive competition is in and among specialty groups and other practices, and he has protected numerous clients who have been threatened with having their reputations tarnished.

Mike obtained his law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Iowa and is an active member of the Iowa State Bar Association, the Iowa Association of Justice and the Polk County Bar Association.