Michelle brings 30+ years of employment litigation, with significant trial experience, and trusted compliance advice to the settlement table, not only as BigLaw defense counsel, but also as counsel for plaintiffs/employees.  Michelle was a juror in a 3-week employment trial that resulted in significant insight that she uses to resolve disputes.  Michelle successfully completed The Employment Law Mediator Training program at Cornell University’s New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations (2019) and is an Association of Workplace Investigators Certificate Holder (AWI-CH).  Her extensive trial experience makes Michelle a rare breed amongst her contemporaries, and she brings this unique perspective of understanding to the wide range of dynamics at play in mediations, including insurance coverage and adjustors.

Given her work experience, Michelle excels in all aspects of employment disputes.  These involve harassment and discrimination, wage and hour, including PAGA and class actions, as well as breach of contract claims, including those not necessarily employment related.  As a lawyer, Michelle provided advice to ultra-high-net-worth entrepreneurs and artists in the entertainment industry to assist and resolve conflicts with special household employees (California Wage Order 15). She continues using this unique expertise and experience in her confidential mediation practice.

She conducts half-day, full-day and evaluative mediations (extensive deep dives with trial considerations) and endeavors to make herself available on a much shorter lead time than many of her fellow mediators.  Michelle’s preparation time before the mediation is not limited, and thus generally involves several hours and various telephonic and video meetings with all the parties and counsel before the day of mediation.  She brings her love of math to her mediations, preparing her own critical damages analysis, risks analysis and settlement scenarios, which Michelle shares with the participants.

Michelle thrives at a deep dive analysis, which often comes to her when the parties are fairly close to trial and may occur when a prior mediation did not result in settlement.  This allows her to:

• watch all the principal party depositions

• watch/read all depositions of key witnesses

• analyze credibility of witnesses

• review “hot docs”

• discuss opening statements in detail

• consider motions in limine and their impact

• evaluate jury instructions and their impact

• assess evidentiary issues and challenges regarding authentication of trial exhibits, among other evaluations