Michelle is an experienced litigator who represents clients in all aspects of civil litigation. She focuses her practice on matters involving catastrophic casualty litigation, complex tort litigation and life sciences defense litigation, product liability, negligence and premises liability, defamation, employment discrimination, commercial litigation, and breach of contract actions. She has experience representing major hospital systems with respect to analysis and defense of life sciences claims and investigation and pre-litigation stages of products liability matters involving alleged product defects, human factor, and OSHA safety issues.
Michelle began her legal career at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, where she worked for six years in the family violence and sexual assault unit, major trials unit, juvenile unit, charging unit, and post-conviction relief act unit. While there, she first-chaired hundreds of trials to verdict, including numerous jury trials for offenses including human trafficking, rape, attempted murder, and felony child abuse. Among other successes, Michelle successfully litigated over 200 motions, ranging from motions to suppress physical evidence and statements, to motions to consolidate cases involving numerous victims of sexual assault. She also acted as the attorney adviser to the technology department to create a comprehensive remote file access system, supervised junior attorneys, and conducted training on evidentiary hearings, brief writing, and oral advocacy.
Michelle earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Temple University and her law degree from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. While in law school, Michelle was on the Moot Court Board and won Best Brief at the 65th Annual National Moot Court Competition, Region III, as well as the 54th Annual Honorable Theodore L. Reimel Moot Court Competition. She is currently serving as an adjunct professor at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, where she teaches students to analyze and apply local, state, and federal human trafficking laws, investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases, and collaborate with survivor leaders, health care professionals, and law enforcement.
Michelle is also an avid equestrian and has successfully competed in nationally recognized competitions across the country.