Biography
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 Super Lawyers, including being named a Top 100 Lawyer in Colorado and 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 the 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 assisted multiple clients by winning game-changing Rule 702 and other pretrial motions that caused opponents to relent, and by winning and defending clients at trial and on appeal. As part of her regular practice, Michele provides general employment advice and counseling, especially during employee separations in the context of litigation threats. Michele is also a Co-Chair of Dinsmore’s Executive Actions Task Force.
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.)
Bar Admissions
Court Admissions
Affiliations/Memberships
- 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
Distinctions
- Super Lawyers
- Top 100: Colorado Super Lawyers (2024-2025)
- Top 50: Women of Colorado (2023-2025)
- Super Lawyer – Employment Litigation Defense (2019-2025)
- Rising Star – Personal Injury Defense: Products (2013-2015)
- The Best Lawyers in America
- Employment Law – Management (2024)
- Labor & Employment Litigation (2022-2024)
- 5280 Magazine, Top Lawyer – Labor/Employment Defense (2023-2025)
- Law Week Colorado, Top Women Lawyers (2020)