Michele On-ja Choe is a Partner in the Firm’s Denver office and a member of the Labor and Employment practice group.
Ms. Choe is an employment litigator with over 20 years of experience defending clients ranging from small businesses to those in the Fortune 50. She has been recognized annually by 5280 Magazine, Best Lawyers, and Super Lawyers, including being named a Top 100 Lawyer in Colorado and Top 50 Women lawyer in Colorado. She focuses her practice on the management side of employment litigation. She has tried multiple cases to verdict in multiple jurisdictions; argued appeals successfully; managed global strategy in single-plaintiff litigations, multidistrict litigations, and mass, class, and collective actions with local counsel across multiple jurisdictions; and managed complex eDiscovery including productions exceeding 1 million documents and productions to Attorneys General.
During her career, Ms. Choe defended a healthcare client in a one-week, multimillion dollar wrongful termination trial in Colorado and won an extraordinary pre-trial motion that resulted in the exclusion of the plaintiff’s future damages. In November 2023, she won arbitration on summary judgment on behalf of a Fortune-50 commercial client in litigation involving contract and misclassification claims. She has assisted multiple clients by winning game-changing Rule 702 and other pretrial motions that caused opponents to relent, and by winning and defending clients at trial and on appeal. As part of her regular practice, Ms. Choe provides general employment advice and counseling, especially during employee separations in the context of litigation threats.
While Ms. Choe focuses her practices on employment litigation, she has extensive commercial and torts experience including contract and trade secret claims, product liability (drug/medical device, MDLs, mass torts), medical malpractice, and complex personal injury litigation.