Michelle Wasserman - Palo Alto, CA

Michelle Wasserman is a Partner and Co-Chair of the firm’s Trial Practice Group.

Before joining Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, Michelle was Executive Counsel, Global Investigations for a Fortune 200 company, where she directed global internal ethics and compliance investigations. She also spent almost 14 years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, where she specialized in complex white collar, fraud, and public corruption matters and served as the office’s Procurement Fraud Coordinator, developing expertise in Government contracting and defense contracting related fraud. Michelle’s matters included a $31 million settlement with a Fortune 500 defense contractor due to a False Claims Act scheme, prosecution of multi-million dollar wire fraud and tax fraud scheme perpetrated by a religious leader, a campaign finance scheme involving a political operative who allowed a foreign national to contribute to a presidential campaign, and a public corruption and money laundering scheme involving bribes by defense contractors in exchange for lucrative government contracts. As an AUSA, Michelle was awarded a national Director’s Award for Superior Performance as a Criminal Assistant United States Attorney, as well as awards for Litigation Team of the Year and Trial Attorney of the Year for the Southern District of California.

Michelle served on the faculty of the National Advocacy Center and is a guest lecturer at the University of California, San Diego Rady School of Management.

Michelle clerked for the Honorable Bruce D. Black, United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. Michelle began her career as an associate at Cooley LLP in San Diego, California.

Michelle graduated from Harvard Law School, where she was a Chayes International Public Service Fellow. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Michelle is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Brazilian Portuguese.