Michelle has spent more than decade building and litigating strategic impact cases and legal strategies focused on government, corporate, and financial institution accountability. She has represented communities, individuals, advocacy organizations, and public clients in civil and administrative litigation to prevent harm and seek redress for violations of civil, constitutional and human rights, and harm to the environment. Her practice areas and subject matter expertise range from climate change and environmental law, human rights and international law, natural resource governance, financial transparency and anti-corruption laws, to sovereign and organizational immunity law.
Michelle currently represents Colorado communities in Boulder v. Suncor, a public nuisance climate lawsuit against Exxon and Suncor, and is counsel on a case against the US Export- Import Bank, challenging its approval of a $5 billion loan to TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG Project. Michelle was counsel on Jam v. International Finance Corporation, which resulted in a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 establishing that international organizations like the World Bank are not entitled to absolute immunity from suit in U.S. Courts. She has long led EarthRights’ extractive industry transparency work, including representing Oxfam America in notice-and-comment rulemakings and in litigation against the Securities and Exchange Commission. She has also served as counsel in other notable transnational cases, including Doe v. Chiquita and Bhopal v. Union Carbide, and represented survivors of sexual violence by mine security guards working for Barrick Gold in Papua New Guinea.
Michelle graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2012, where she received the Robert F. Kennedy ‘51 Public Service Fellowship to work with EarthRights for a year, after which she worked as a Bertha Legal Fellow for two years. Michelle holds a B.A. in Political Science and Environmental Science and a minor in French from Miami University. She is admitted to practice law in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
