Michelle Stratton

Michelle Stratton handles complex trial matters and appeals in federal and state court. After earning the top grade in twenty law-school courses, graduating first in her class, and receiving the Scribes award for the best student law-review article in the nation, she began her career as a law clerk to Judge Edith Jones on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She then served as a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Office of the Solicitor General (which oversees the federal government's appellate and Supreme Court litigation) and as a law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court. While clerking, she was named one of Washingtonian Magazine's "Ten Women to Watch," and after clerking, she was selected as a Temple Bar scholar to study trial and appellate practice in the United Kingdom. Michelle spent her first twelve years in private practice at a major international law firm and then at a prominent Texas boutique, before co-founding Murphy Ball Stratton LLP in 2024.

Michelle has delivered appellate arguments to the Fifth and D.C. Circuits, the Texas Supreme Court, and state appellate courts, and she has argued critical motions in a variety of state and federal trial courts nationwide. She has written scores of briefs and motions at every level of state and federal court, including in the U.S. Supreme Court. And she has tried cases to jury verdict. Michelle is skilled at mastering complex law and facts, understanding her client's story or business, and then advocating with clarity and strength - whether in writing or on her feet in a courtroom.

This work has spanned sectors, with clients including energy companies, manufacturers of chemicals, pipe, medical devices, and electronics, maritime shippers, healthcare providers, cruise companies, bankruptcy trustees, churches and church leaders, legislatures, public-interest groups, C-Suite executives, indigent defendants, and more. She represents plaintiffs and defendants, appellants and appellees. Michelle's work has also spanned legal issues and jurisdictions, including disputes over statutes, contracts, real-estate leases, fiduciary duties, tort liability, insurance, indemnity, intellectual property, arbitration clauses, products liability, fraudulent transfers, property taxes, and criminal liability.

Michelle loves spending time with her husband and three children. She is an active member of Christ Community Church, where she serves as a deacon and teaches the Bible to women.