Michelle-Ann focuses her practice on regulatory, compliance, litigation, and enforcement matters—she utilizes her experience as a former US Department of Justice attorney to support clients in navigating federal agency programs, operations, and regulatory developments. She advises clients, including state agencies, electric utilities, and other energy companies, on environmental permitting and siting matters, regulatory compliance, and litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), Clean Water Act (CWA), and other federal environmental statutes and regulations. She provides counsel on litigation risk and changing precedents, and devises litigation strategies to include consideration of novel issues, such as environmental justice. Michelle-Ann also has experience advocating for clients by drafting comments on administrative rulemakings and engaging with federal agencies on the development of key policies.

Prior to joining the firm, Michelle-Ann served as a Trial Attorney in the US Department of Justice for approximately seven years, leading the defense of challenges to the Department of the Interior’s oil, gas, and coal programs, including Interior’s analyses of impacts on climate change under NEPA. Michelle-Ann provided compliance and litigation guidance to agencies including the Bureau of Land Management, Office of Surface Management, Reclamation and Enforcement, and the Office of Natural Resources and Revenue, on statutes including NEPA, Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA), Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act (FOGRMA), the Mineral Leasing Act (MLA), and the General Mining Law of 1872.

Michelle-Ann previously clerked at EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance in the Waste and Chemicals Enforcement Division, where she provided guidance on matters involving the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Michelle-Ann also has experience working at the international level. Through her work as a Legal Specialist in the Organization of American States, she worked with Latin American and Caribbean countries on environmental law and policy issues, including energy, disaster risk management, climate change, and the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements.

Bar Admissions

Education
JD, Howard University School of Law, 2014

LLM, International and Comparative Law, The George Washington University Law School, 2007

Legal Education Certificate, Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica, 2005

LLB, University of the West Indies, 2003

• Energy Policy and Sector Analysis in the Caribbean (2010-2011): Assessing Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (2012)
• Regional Environmental Agreements and Initiatives in the Americas, 18 Y.B. of Int’l Envtl. Law 65