Michelle Harrison

Staff Attorney

Region: United States and Global

Michelle focuses on legal strategies to enhance corporate accountability and support communities in defense of their human rights and their environment. She serves as counsel on ERI’s transnational cases such as Jam v. International Finance Corporation and Doe v. Chiquita. She has represented survivors of sexual violence by mine security guards in Papua New Guinea, defended the First Amendment rights of environmental activists against abusive discovery from Chevron, and advocated for and defended the Dodd-Frank extractive industry transparency rules on behalf of Oxfam America. Michelle graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law where she received the Robert F. Kennedy ‘51 Public Service Fellowship to work with ERI for a year, after which she worked as a Bertha Legal Fellow for two years. While at UVA, she worked as a clinical student on human rights issues ranging from grass roots human rights advocacy training to examining the social and economic impacts of extractive industries on indigenous communities. Michelle also worked in Tanzania for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and with the Innocence Project, providing post-conviction representation. 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.