Michael Burrage

Billy Michael Burrage (born 1950) is a former United States District Judge of Oklahoma, former Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Oklahoma, and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
Burrage was born in Durant, Oklahoma. He received a B.S. from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1971, and a J.D. from University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1974. He was in private practice at the Stamper and Burrage law firm in Antlers, Oklahoma from 1974 to 1994, and returned to private practice in 2001.
Burrage was a federal judge for all three of the United States District Courts—Western, Northern, and Eastern—in Oklahoma. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton on March 9, 1994, to the seats vacated by H. Dale Cook. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 8, 1994, and received his commissions on June 9, 1994. Burrage became the Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Oklahoma in 1996.
Between 1999 and 2002, Burrage, his brothers Steve and David, and Steve's wife Roberta, became the sole owners of FirstBank of Oklahoma. In 2001, Burrage resigned his judicial duties in all three Oklahoma districts, and returned to private law practice, starting Burrage Law Firm PLLC with his younger son David and daughter-in-law Heather Hillburn Burrage. In 2008, Burrage became a Managing Partner in a second law firm, which was refounded as the Whitten Burrage Law Firm.
Burrage's brother Steve is a former Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector. Burrage's older son Sean was a member of the Oklahoma Senate and is the President of Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, Oklahoma.