Michelle is a nationally recognized trial attorney, victims’ rights advocate, and former world-ranked athlete in slalom water skiing who uses her competitive drive to champion the cases of sexual abuse and assault survivors, students, and athletes in Title IX cases, and victims of severe injuries and wrongful death. Michelle has represented hundreds of survivors in high-profile cases including the litigation against USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee, and Michigan State by former gymnasts who were sexually abused by Larry Nassar, the litigation against the University of Southern California by survivors abused by its campus gynecologist, and clergy sex abuse cases nationwide. She was one of the first attorneys to file a lawsuit connected to the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that resulted in an $800 million dollar settlement. In 2021, Michelle represented a rape victim in a landmark case against Hilton Management LLC that resulted in a $44 million verdict, which is believed to be the largest sexual assault verdict against a hotel chain.
Michelle is licensed to practice in Texas and New York and represents clients nationwide. In 2022 alone, Michelle has been named to the National Law Journal’s list of Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Trailblazers and Elite Women of the Plaintiffs Bar, a SuperLawyers Rising Star, Top 50 Women, and Top 100 Lawyers in Texas, and has received a National Law Journal Top 100 Verdicts and Top 20 Verdicts in Texas for 2021. In addition to her work in the courtroom, Michelle is a regular legal commentator and frequent voice in the media, from CNN to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.