Mike Truesdale earned his undergraduate degree, cum laude, in 1988, and his Master's degree in 1990, from Texas Tech University, and his law degree, magna cum laude, from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1994. While in law school he was Managing Editor of the Texas Tech Law Review, and was voted Outstanding Third Year Student. He competed on several national moot court teams, and his team won the National Championship at the American Bar Association National Appellate Advocacy Competition in 1994. Mike was voted the Recipient of the George and Sarah Dupree Award, given annually "To the member of the graduating class who, in the opinion of his colleagues, best exemplifies the ability, the integrity, and sense of professional responsibility desired in one soon to join the legal profession."

Mike's experience focuses primarily on appeals and on complex civil litigation. Throughout his practice he has worked on numerous cases before the Supreme Court of Texas and has handled appeals before the majority of the fourteen Texas intermediate courts of appeals. On a national level, Mike has led state court appeals in other jurisdictions as well. Recently he led an appeal resulting in the reversal by the California Court of Appeal of adverse judgments dismissing millions of dollars of claims on behalf of a European bank. He also led an appeal in Michigan resulting in the reversal of a class certification order in an oil and gas royalty case.

Mike is a member of the Austin Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, the American Bar Association, and the Fifth Circuit Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in all Texas state courts and before all U.S. District Courts in Texas, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mike served as Secretary-Treasurer and Chair of the Travis County Bar Association Civil Appellate Section, and currently serves on the Council for the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section, and on the Program Committee for the Council of Appellate Lawyers in the Appellate Judges Conference of the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association. Mike has served as a moot court coach for various University of Texas School of law teams and served on the faculty of the 2006 Texas Equal Access to Justice Motions and Appellate Advocacy Academy. He is a member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, the Robert Calvert Chapter of American Inns of Court, and has served as a director for Reading is Fundamental Austin. He has been recognized as a "Texas Rising Star Super Lawyer" in appellate practice by Texas Monthly each year, and has received an AV Peer Review Rating by Martindale Hubbell

Mike has authored and co-authored and spoken on numerous matters relating to the appellate practice, including:

Jury Charge, State Bar of Texas Advanced Civil Appellate Course, (September, 2005)

Supreme Court Top Ten of 2004-05, Diamond McCarthy Litigation Update (August, 2005)

Handbook to the Texas Appellate Courts, Appellate Advocate (special edition, 2005)

The "Grievance Zone," Robert Calvert Inns of Court Presentation (moderator) (April 2005)

Supreme Court Update, Appellate Advocate (spring editions, 2002-2006)

Internal Operating Procedures, State Bar of Texas Advanced Civil Appellate Course Boot Camp (September 2004)

Commercial Litigation Update, The University of Texas School of Law 12th Annual Conference on State and Federal Appeals (2002)

Update: User-Friendly Courts Update, Appellate Advocate (2002)

State Court Internal Operating Procedures, State Advanced Civil Appellate Seminar, State Bar of Texas (2001)

Appellate Procedure, 32 Texas Tech Law Review 614 (2001)

Issues and Petitions: The Impact on Supreme Court Practice, 31 St. Mary's Law Journal 565 (2000)

Labor and Employment Law, 31 Texas Tech Law Review 711 (2000)

Update: Report of the User-Friendly Court Committee, Appellate Advocate (2000)