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Overview

Michelle Liguori is an appellate and business litigation attorney in the Raleigh office of Ellis & Winters.  Her practice focuses on appeals, class actions, and other complex business disputes. Michelle is a North Carolina Board Certified Specialist in Appellate Practice and has been recognized as a Top Lawyer by Marquis Who’s Who.  She also serves as Ellis & Winters’s hiring partner and has been on the firm’s Associate Development Committee.

Michelle regularly handles appeals in the Fourth Circuit, Eleventh Circuit, North Carolina Court of Appeals, and North Carolina Supreme Court.  She also has briefed several petitions before the United States Supreme Court.  Michelle’s appellate practice has spanned a broad array of subject matters, including class actions, arbitration disputes, breach of contract matters, medical malpractice, land use, consumer protection litigation, trust and estate disputes, and criminal law.  She is a member of the Fourth Circuit’s Criminal Justice Act panel, has been appointed to several Eleventh Circuit criminal appeals, and takes appointments through the North Carolina Office of the Appellate Defender’s criminal appellate roster. 

Michelle also has an active trial court practice focused on class actions, other complex commercial disputes, and section 1983 litigation.  She has significant experience litigating in the North Carolina Business Court, which includes briefing and arguing several issues of first impression and trying an LLC dispute to jury verdict.  Michelle is a founding member of Best in Class, Ellis & Winters’s class action blog, and she regularly writes and edits articles for the blog. 

Before joining Ellis & Winters, Michelle spent three years as a staff attorney and law clerk at the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.  She later worked for the Solicitor General’s Office at the North Carolina Department of Justice, handling civil and criminal appeals in the state and federal appellate courts. 

Michelle is actively involved in the legal community, both locally and nationally.  She is on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Appellate Section Council and Appellate Rules Committee, is actively involved with the American Bar Association’s Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee, and is on the Bar Candidate Interview Committee for the Wake County Bar Association.  Michelle also serves as the Eastern District of North Carolina representative on the Fourth Circuit’s Criminal Justice Act Panel Committee, assisting the Court with administration of the Criminal Justice Act plan. 

In addition to her law practice, Michelle has been an adjunct professor at Duke Law School, where she has taught legal and scholarly writing, she is a member of the Board of Directors of the Harvard Club of the Research Triangle, and she was a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt.

Credentials

Education

  • J.D., Harvard Law School, 2012
    • Honors: cum laude
  • B.A., Amherst College, 2006

Specialization 

  • Board-Certified Specialist in Appellate Law, North Carolina State Bar

Court Admissions

  • North Carolina
  • New York
  • Eastern District of North Carolina
  • Middle District of North Carolina
  • Western District of North Carolina
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • United States Supreme Court

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • North Carolina Bar Association, Appellate Practice Section
  • Wake County Bar Association, Bar Candidate Interview Committee
  • American Bar Association, Litigation Section, Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee
  • Defense Research Institute, Appellate Advocacy Committee

Experience

Appeals

  • In medical malpractice matter, appealed trial court’s denial of motion to dismiss on statute of limitations grounds, which implicated constitutionality of 2011 North Carolina tort reform. Obtained reversal on the briefs in the North Carolina Court of Appeals; briefed and argued plaintiff’s appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court, which affirmed.
  • Obtained resentencing in Fourth Circuit criminal appeal for defendant sentenced to 200 months in prison, which resulted in 20-month sentencing reduction on remand.
  • Obtained resentencing in Fourth Circuit criminal appeal for defendant sentenced to 93 months in prison based on erroneous drug-quantity calculation, which resulted in 12 month sentencing reduction on remand.
  • Served as embedded appellate counsel on trial litigation team in high-stakes tort case.
  • Filed amicus brief on behalf of the Carolinas Credit Union League in North Carolina Supreme Court appeal involving enforceability of arbitration clause in putative class action; appeal decided favorably to defendant credit union.
  • Filed petition for a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court in criminal appeal addressing circuit split on district courts’ reliance on defendants’ pre-hearing review of indictment to inform them of the elements of offenses to which they plead guilty.
  • Represented Orange County property owners in zoning-related appeal before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and petition to the North Carolina Supreme Court.
  • Briefed and argued criminal appeal in the North Carolina Court of Appeals involving constitutional challenges to state stalking statute; obtained affirmance of favorable trial court ruling.
  • Briefed and argued criminal appeal in the North Carolina Court of Appeals involving challenge to denial of motion suppress, conviction, and related civil judgment for attorney’s fees; obtained vacatur of civil judgment.
  • Briefed appeals before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and petitions before the North Carolina Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court on motion to compel arbitration in putative class action.
  • Briefed appeals before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and North Carolina Supreme Court involving issues of first impression regarding interpretation of statutes governing debt buyer collections activity.
  • Briefed appeals before the North Carolina Court of Appeals and North Carolina Supreme Court in trust and estate litigation.

Class Actions

  • Represent health care company in putative class and collective action raising claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
  • Represent assisted living facility in class action involving unfair trade practice claims.
  • Represent employer in putative class actions raising claims under the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act.
  • Represent home builder in putative class action raising breach of contract claims.
  • Represented national retailer in North Carolina putative class action raising claims under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act.
  • Represented debt buyer in putative class action involving statutory requirements for collections activity.
  • Represented real estate management company in putative class action involving claims related to eviction fees.
  • Represented employer in putative class and California Private Attorney General Act action.

BUSINESS COURT, SECTION 1983, AND OTHER CASES

  • Represented minority member of limited liability company in dispute with majority member. Obtained temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, defeated motion to dismiss and defensive motion for summary judgment, obtained summary judgment on counterclaim, and tried matter to jury verdict, prevailing on breach of contract claims.
  • Defended police officers on Selective Enforcement Unit in several lawsuits bringing section 1983 claims, successfully obtaining dismissal of claims against these officers.
  • Successfully briefed and argued issue of first impression in North Carolina Business Court related to enforcement of LLC member’s information rights.
  • Represented defendant against allegations of theft of trade secrets, fraud, and related claims. Successfully briefed and argued opposition to third-party defendants’ motions to dismiss and for judgment on the pleadings.
  • Successfully petitioned for release of third party’s property being held for criminal trial under North Carolina General Statute section 15-11.1(a).

Presentations/Publications

Awards/Recognition

  • Best Lawyers in America, “Ones to Watch,” Appellate Practice 2021-2025, Commercial Litigation 2024, 2025
  • North Carolina Super Lawyers Magazine, Appellate, Rising Stars, (2022, 2023, 2024)
  • Business North Carolina, Legal Elite, Appellate, 2022, 2024, 2025