Michelle has a master of laws in intellectual property and is particularly skilled in navigating complex legal matters and advising clients on emerging copyright and trademark issues. Michelle focuses her entertainment and intellectual property practice on safeguarding her clients’ copyright and trademark portfolios and delivering comprehensive representation to Grammy-nominated songwriters, composers, recording artists, producers and engineers, music licensing representatives, authors and illustrators, filmmakers and a variety of entertainment-related businesses. She has represented clients in royalty disputes and copyright and trademark claims, and has negotiated an array of contracts, including artist management agreements, works-made-for-hire, band member agreements, live performance agreements, literary agreements, sound engineer and producer agreements, recording and personal services agreements, publishing agreements and licensing agreements.
Michelle is also an adjunct professor at Elmhurst University, where she teaches an advanced course on entertainment and music law. She has guest lectured at UIC Law, DePaul University College of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, and Azusa Pacific University, and served as an author and editor for the American Bar Association’s Entertainment & Sports Lawyers Journal from 2015–2023.
Michelle is a committed pro bono attorney and previously served as president of the Associate Board to Lawyers for the Creative Arts, a non-profit organization that provides free legal services to members of the arts and entertainment communities. Since 2018, Michelle has proudly served as events chair for the Chicago Chapter of Women in Music, a global non-profit organization dedicated to fostering equality in the music industry through the support, empowerment, and advancement of women. Michelle is also a professional member of the Recording Academy, where she has served as a mentor for the Academy’s GRAMMY U program since 2021. Michelle participates annually in the Recording Academy’s Music Advocacy Day and the Music in Our Schools program, and is currently serving on the Education Committee of the Recording Academy’s Chicago/Midwest Chapter.
In addition to her entertainment and intellectual property work, Michelle also practices toxic tort defense litigation, where she has served on national counsel teams representing a variety of product manufacturers involved in asbestos, talc, and silica litigation since 2006.
Before joining MG+M, Michelle was a partner at a national trial firm, where she co-chaired the Entertainment and Media Law Practice Group and chaired the Community Service and Pro Bono Committee.