Michele is an employment litigator with over 20 years of experience defending clients ranging from small businesses to those in the Fortune 50. She has been recognized annually by 5280 Magazine, Best Lawyers, and Colorado Super Lawyers, including being named a Top 50 Women lawyer in Colorado. She focuses her practice on the management side of litigation including employment, commercial, and medical malpractice litigation. She has tried multiple cases to verdict in multiple jurisdictions; argued appeals successfully; managed global strategy in single-plaintiff litigations, multidistrict litigations, and mass, class, and collective actions with local counsel across multiple jurisdictions; and managed complex eDiscovery including productions exceeding 1 million documents and productions to Attorneys General.

During her career, Michele has defended a healthcare client in a one-week, multimillion dollar wrongful termination trial in Colorado and won an extraordinary pre-trial motion that resulted in the exclusion of all of plaintiff’s future damages. In November 2023, she won arbitration on summary judgment on behalf of a Fortune-50 commercial client in litigation involving contract and misclassification claims. She has also assisted multiple clients by providing employment advice and counseling during employee separations in the context of litigation threats.

Bar Admissions

Colorado

Illinois

California

U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

Education

• University of Iowa College of Law (J.D., with distinction)
  • Iowa Law Review, Articles Editor
• University of Iowa (M.A.)
• California State University (B.A.)

• The Best Lawyers in America
  • Employment Law – Management (2024)
  • Labor & Employment Litigation (2022-2024)
• Colorado Super Lawyers
  • Super Lawyer – Employment Litigation Defense (2019-2024)
  • Top 50 Women (2023-2024)
  • Top 100 (2024)
  • Rising Star – Personal Injury Defense: Products (2013-2015)
• 5280 Magazine, Top Lawyer – Labor/Employment Defense (2023-2024)
• Law Week Colorado, Top Women Lawyers (2020)

• Colorado Defense Lawyers Association
  • President (2021-2022)
  • Vice-President (2020-2021)
  • Treasurer (2019-2020)
  • Secretary (2018-2019)
  • Chair, Professional Liability Committee (2017-2018)
• Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, nominee and participant in Fellows program (2021)
• Colorado General Counsel Mentoring Program, mentee in the 2020 class