Michelle is Mallesons’ Chief Innovation Officer and is responsible for designing and delivering innovation, transformation, Gen AI, digital literacy and the future of work. A member of the inaugural Financial Times Law 50 recognised globally for impact, influence and forward thinking in AI enablement. Driving innovation at the firm, with Mallesons being named the Financial Times Most Innovative Law Firm in Asia Pacific five times, most recently in 2026, and winning the Innovation in Digital Legal Services award for advanced agentic capabilities. In 2025, she was named to ILTA's Influential Women in LegalTech list for her mentorship and impact on the global LegalTech community. Mallesons has also won the AFR Most Innovative Companies Awards in the Professional Services category. Michelle was the first Australian inducted as a Fellow of the International College of Law and Practice Management. Her peers have awarded her the ILTA Distinguished Peer Leadership Award. Michelle is ranked by Chambers in Band 1 for NewLaw 2026 Legal Transformation Consulting.
With an approach anchored in behavioural science, analysed with data and applied pragmatically through test and learn, Michelle ensures Mallesons' whole of firm transformation has systemic enablement, builds digital literacy, and brings sustained change in delivering value to clients. AI adoption is at 98%+ of our lawyers have completed AI training and 94.8% of our lawyers actively use AI.
Under Michelle’s leadership, Mallesons has successfully launched global industry firsts (The Multiplier, LegalTech Belts & Legal Transformation Belts) with initiatives winning the Financial Times Asia Pacific Most Innovative Law Firm - People and Skills category and AFR Most Innovative Companies Awards for the Best Internal Innovation Award for the digital transformation programme she leads. She combines numerous disciplines as an Accredited Associate Fellow of AIM, an experienced legal technologist, a certified PRINCE2 Project Manager, a certified Prosci Change Manager, a Stanford d.school Design Thinker, and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. In addition, Michelle holds an Advisory Board appointments for MIT and global legal technology companies.
Experience
Michelle has a diverse body of work which includes:
- Innovation – designing and delivering ideation experiences; leading the legal design lab including service design; managing the portfolio of digital products; identifying, testing and selecting LegalTech; application of our experimentation methodology and future readiness planning.
- Gen AI – testing, evals, benchmarking, selecting and deploying with close to 100% adoption and engagement depth. Our Agentic workflows have a high level of usage intensity and adoption.
- Transformation – execution of the digital transformation programme across three delivery streams together with 42 associated systemic and cultural initiatives.
- Technology & Data - an extensive background in designing, selecting, implementing and project managing technology driven data rich approaches for Gen AI, litigation, transactions and contract management.
- Global Change – leading and designing a global change programme.
- Legal Logistics – leading the Applied Legal Technology, Legal Process Outsourcing and Legal Project Management strategies and teams.
- Litigation Technology - training and education programs for the judiciary, authoring technology standards for commissions, contributing to the drafting of numerous Supreme Court Practice Notes, making recommendations for technology standards in multi-party disputes.
Memberships
- Michelle is a member of the Project Management Institute, an alum of Stanford d.school, a member of International Legal Technology Association, and a Fellow of the College of Law and Practice Management.
