Michelle Gessner Michelle is one of the few lawyers, in North Carolina who has both Big Law and Big Company defense experience as well as 10 years of employee-side employment litigation experience. Michelle possesses an understanding of the many challenges employees face dealing with wage theft and other illegal employment practices. Michelle gained extensive experience in all legal issues facing the retail, restaurant, and hospitality industries by serving as the Chief Litigation and Employment Law Counsel for publicly traded companies such as Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (FDO), Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI), Big Lots Stores, Inc. (BIG) and TriNet (TNET). Michelle also served as the SVP, General Counsel, and Chief Administrative Officer for Ovation Brands, a privately held $1 billion restaurant company.

Michelle is a member of NCAJ’s Women’s Caucus and Employment Law sections.

She earned her J.D. at West Virginia University and has been a member of NCAJ since 2016.