Michelle has more than 20 years of experience working on environmental, natural resources, real estate, and regulatory matters involving contaminated real property, environmental defense, and regulatory and permitting compliance. She represents a wide range of commercial, industrial, and maritime clients, from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and individual property owners.
She regularly works on complex, multi-party cases involving contaminated sites arising under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and its state law equivalents across the nation. She represents clients in private, non-judicial liability allocations and natural resource damage claims involving multimillion dollar disputes and works collaboratively with other parties and agency officials to move the process forward while advancing her clients’ interests.
Michelle also represents parties in contribution and cost recovery actions, negotiates administrative orders, consent decrees, and settlements with federal and state agencies, facilitates environmental inspections and audits, responds to notices of violation, and counsels clients on environmental and regulatory compliance issues to minimize risk. She also assists clients with solid waste management issues arising under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), including corrective actions, consent orders, financial assurance, and the cost-effective redevelopment of Brownfields properties with complex legal and technical challenges.
As part of her practice, Michelle has counseled Native American tribes on environmental matters arising under federal, state, and tribal laws, the implementation and enforcement of tribal regulations and regulatory programs, the redevelopment of contaminated tribal properties, and environmental risk management.
Before she became an attorney, Michelle spent eight years as a federal contractor supporting the U.S. Department of Energy in Las Vegas, Nevada, first as a senior environmental policy advisor on the Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project, and then as a public affairs manager with the Nevada Test Site’s Environmental Management Program.
Representative Matters
- Serves as outside environmental counsel to publicly traded corporations, multi-state companies, and small businesses.
- Assists clients in assessing environmental liabilities, developing legal and technical strategies for addressing contaminated properties, conducting environmental investigations, implementing cleanup actions, pursuing liable parties and cost recovery claims, and resolving environmental disputes.
- Represents clients in the allocation of liability among private parties and government entities at legacy sites involving historical contamination.
- Settles environmental claims by negotiating enforcement orders, agreed orders and consent decrees with federal and state regulators, and cash-out contracts and settlement agreements with potentially responsible parties.
- Assists clients who receive Notices of Violation (NOVs) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state and local governments arising under federal, state, and local laws, regulations, ordinances, and administrative rules.
- Represented Canadian provinces in cross-border challenges involving federal water supply projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other federal and international laws.
- Successfully appealed an NOV issued by Washington’s State Department of Labor & Industries for an industrial facility.
- Challenged an agency rulemaking associated with a state’s repeal and adoption of new flood hazards area control act regulations.
Admissions
Member, King County Bar Association (KCBA)
Member, KCBA Environmental Law & Land Use Section
Member, Washington State Bar Association (WSBA)
Member, WSBA Environmental Law & Land Use Section
Member, Northwest Indian Bar Association
Member, American Bar Association (ABA)
Member, ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER)
Admitted, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
Civic Involvement
- Co-Founder, Women of CERCLA (2016–Present).
- Member, Ratepayer Advisory Board, Ballard Business Improvement Area (2017–Present).
- Co-President, Board of Directors, Ballard Alliance (2017–2021).
- Membership Vice-Chair, Superfund and Natural Resource Damages Litigation Committee, ABA SEER (2010–2013).
- Executive Committee, Women in Environment (2010–2013).
- Board Member, Ballard Chamber of Commerce (2006-2016); President (2010‑2012).
- Executive Committee, Ballard District Council (2008–2013).
- Chair, KCBA Environmental Law & Land Use Section (2010–2011); Vice-Chair (2009); CLE/Speaker Chair (2008); Treasurer (2007); Secretary (2006).
- Chair, Ballard SeafoodFest, SEAFAIR community event (2005–2009).
- Reporter, Environmental Enforcement and Crimes Committee Newsletter, Region 10, ABA SEER (2005–2007).
- Board Member, Showtunes Theatre Company (2005–2007).
- Member, Las Vegas Race for the Cure (1997–2001); Advisor (2000); Chair (1999); Director (1998).
- Graduate, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Las Vegas Program (1997).
Articles and Presentations
- Panelist, Lessons Learned from Over 40 Years of CERCLA & A New Era for CERCLA, EHS Support Sediment Conference (2022).
- Presenter, CERCLA and the Many Roles of a Superfund Lawyer, ABA SEER (2022).
- Panel Co-Coordinator, The Allocators Speak on Allocation and Mediation, ABA SEER Master Class on Complex Environmental Liability Resolution (2019).
- Presenter, Science of Superfund Cost Allocation, ABA SEER (2017).
- Presenter, Burlington Northern: Changing the Legal Landscape under Superfund, KCBA Environmental and Land Use Section CLE (2009).
- Presenter, Working Effectively with Tribal Governments, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resource Damages Training Course (2008).
- Presenter, Easements and Other Interests in Real Property, Law of Easements: Legal Issues and Practical Considerations, KCBA CLE (2008).
- Presenter, Easements and Other Interests in Real Property, Law of Easements: Legal Issues and Practical Considerations, KCBA CLE (2007).
- Author, Brownfields Response Programs in Indian Country: Protecting the Reservation Environment, Environmental Transactions and Brownfields Newsletter, ABA SEER, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2006).
- Co-Author, CERCLA and Transboundary Contamination in the Columbia River, Natural Resources & Environment, ABA SEER, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2006).
- Co-Author, Upper Columbia River Contamination – A Transboundary Application of CERCLA, Pakootas v. TCM Metals, Ltd., The Water Report (2005).
Honors and Recognition
Best Lawyer® in the areas of Environmental Law and Natural Resources by Best Lawyers in America (2019–Present).
Top 50 Women Attorneys in Washington, Washington Law & Politics magazine (2016–Present)
Top 100 Attorneys in Washington, Washington Law & Politics magazine (2016–Present)
Super Lawyer®, Super Lawyers and Washington Law & Politics magazine (2014–Present)
Client Choice Award, Environment & Climate Change – State of Washington (2015)
Rising Star®, Super Lawyers and Washington Law & Politics magazine (2010–2013)
Rated 10.0 by Avvo, the leading lawyer-rating website
Education
J.D., cum laude, Washington and Lee University School of Law (2004)
M.P.P., Environmental Policy, University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Studies (1993)
B.A., University of California Los Angeles (1990)
Personal
Michelle grew up in Southern California, lived in Italy for two years, and after completing graduate school in Chicago, spent eight years in Las Vegas working on environmental policy issues. Realizing one day that she was too young to be so bored, she decided to change careers and headed off to law school. When not dealing with dirty dirt, Michelle enjoys spending time with friends, traveling, listening to live music, and chasing around her furry four-legged kids.
