Fluent in German and French, Michelle has extensive experience in international trade law, including both import and export law. She has assisted U.S. and foreign companies with a variety of Customs and international trade matters including import and export compliance programs, C-TPAT, foreign-trade zones, ITAR compliance, export licensing, country sanctions, voluntary disclosures, technology transfers, and fines, penalties and forfeitures. Michelle has spoken on international trade law issues for the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones, the University of Texas School of Business, the International Small Business Development Center, the Greater Dallas Chamber and other organizations.
In addition, she has years of experience in immigration law, which is particularly helpful in the area of deemed exports and technology transfers to foreign nationals. She handles complex deemed export issues companywide and has spoken on this topic as well as on I-9 compliance. She has presented for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Catholic Charities and other recognized organizations.
Currently Michelle is Vice Chair for the Greater Dallas Chamber’s Trade Development Committee, and she serves on the Chamber’s International Business Council. Additionally, she is a member of COAC’s Subcommittee on Bonds and Penalties related to the Proposed Importer Security Filing Requirements (10+2). She is also a member of the Trade Support Network, which Customs established in 1994 to provide a forum for the discussion of significant redesign efforts for the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). In past years, she has been an active board member of the D/FW Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT), the Dallas Section of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA), and the Greater Dallas Chamber Importers’ Roundtable. She was also an adjunct professor of International Business Law at Richland College in Dallas, Texas, where she received the ‘Thunderation’ teaching award in 2006. Her ongoing pro bono work includes immigration cases as well as wills and estate planning for the terminally ill through certified nonprofit organizations.
Prior to joining the firm, Michelle worked for the Immigration and Refugee Services of America in Washington, D.C. and the International Institute of San Francisco. Michelle graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with honors from Tulane University, where she was a member of the Mortar Board National Honors Society. She studied French literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, and German at the Lessing-Kolleg in Marburg, Germany. She was selected for the Fulbright educational exchange program in Vienna, Austria, where she also volunteered her time in a major reconstruction project for Bosnia at the American Embassy of Vienna. Michelle earned her MA in German from Vanderbilt University. She then received her JD from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, where she served on the boards of the Texas International Law Journal, the Asian Law Students’ Association, and the International Law Society. She studied International Law at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands.
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