Michelle is an admitted and practicing Attorney specialising in labour and employment law and representing a wide spectrum of interests (individual and corporate employers, employees and unions) in both the private and public sector in litigation and arbitration at the CCMA, Bargaining Councils, Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court. Over the past 20 years she has acquired extensive experience as an arbitrator (accredited by Arbitration Foundation of SA and TOKISO) and mediator (accredited by the Dispute Settlement Accreditation Council of SA and Conflict Dynamics).
Michelle has international civil and commercial mediation accreditation through ADR Group UK and is passionate about dispute resolution, conflict management and dispute systems design.
She has lectured at the Durban School for Legal Practice in High Court Practice, Appropriate Dispute Resolution, Mediation Skills and Labour Dispute Resolution.
Michelle has also held the positions of Chief Operations Officer for Africa Dispute Resolution, Regional Manager for Equillore Dispute Settlement, Regional Manager for ProBono.Org, Chairman of the Board of Governors of Durban Girls’ College, Trustee of the Governing Body Foundation, Member of the Governing Body of DPHS, President of the KZN Chapter of the SA Society of Labour Lawyers, Acting Judge in the Labour Court (pro bono project) and was a founding member of the Mediation Institute of Southern Africa.
She is also a reports editor for Juta’s Industrial Law Journal; Company Secretary for a Norwegian shipping company; and is a registered medical mediator with the SA Medico-Legal Association.
She was involved in the Pro Bono mediation project at the Durban Labour Court and has been extensively involved in the RAF and Gauteng Health Department pilot projects to contribute to the development of medical mediation in South Africa. She has more recently been involved in the creation of a Stakeholders Engagement Forum with the Ethekweni Municipality, business and community in the Cornubia Industrial precinct in KZN.
Her preferred mediation style is facilitative and she believes in the transformative power of constructive engagement in conflict and the importance of bringing matters to a sensible conclusion at the earliest opportunity.