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Michelle Lester is an associate attorney practicing in product liability with a focus on warranty defense, asbestos and medical device cases. She is highly skilled in legal research, writing and provides value to trial teams and clients. 

She previously served as a summer associate with Bowman and Brooke, where she gained valuable experience working on medical device and asbestos teams. In this role, she prepared cases for a MDL through document review and writing white papers. She also performed legal research and assisted with writing deposition summaries. Michelle spent time with the Ramsey County Attorney's Office during law school where she managed several sentencing calendars every week. In this capacity, she would appear on her own as a certified student attorney attending sentencings, omnibus hearings, bail and sentencing arguments on behalf of the state.

Michelle was inspired to pursue the law by her grandmother, who worked as a probation officer. A strong influence in her life, Michelle's grandmother wished she had gone to law school herself so she could better advocate for her clients. This love of the law rubbed off on Michelle and they continue to talk daily about the legal world. 

Away from work, she enjoys coaching a FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics team in Indiana. Michelle has coached the FireWires team since 2016 after spending four years of high school on a robotics team. Through her experience with robotics, she has gained an intimate knowledge of product design and liability issues. She and her students recently participated in the process of helping to pass legislation, HB 1382, to fund robotics programs in Indiana. 

Michelle also enjoys attending concerts, browsing in bookstores and doting on her cat Bonnie.

Bar Admissions

  • Minnesota, 2023
  • Iowa, 2024
  • Montana, 2024

Court Admissions

  • US Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Education

  • University of St. Thomas School of Law, J.D., 2023

    Class Rank: Top 33%

    ABA Negotiations Team, 2022 – 2023

    Board of Advocates, Negotiations Director, 2022 – 2023

    Student Government, 3L Representative, 2022 – 2023

     
  • Saint Mary's University, B.A., 2020

    College Class Council President, 2019 – 2020

    College Class Council Representative, 2016 – 2019

    Saint Mary’s College Bellebots, Founder

    Major: Political Science

    Minor: Business Administration, Sociology

Professional Associations

    • Minnesota Women Lawyers
    • FIRST® Tech Challenge, Michigan, Minnesota and Indiana
      —Field Technical Adviser, Control System Adviser, Robot Inspector, Judge, 2016 – 2024
      —Coach, 2016 – 2024
    • FIRST® Lego League, Michigan and Indiana
      —Judge, 2016 – 2024
    • FIRST® Robotics Competition, Indiana
      —Mentor, 2016 – 2018