Michelle is a second-year J.S.D. student at Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech, working with Professor James Grimmelmann. She received her undergraduate degree in commerce and her law degree from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and an LL.M. from Cornell Law School. Her doctoral research focuses on questions of jurisdiction and applicable law arising from blockchain-based transactions.

Before returning to academia, Michelle practiced as a debt finance lawyer in Johannesburg and New York, where her interest in the legal questions raised by emerging technologies led her to pursue further research. An Allan Gray Orbis Fellow and Fulbright alum, Michelle is interested in how technological progress both reflects and challenges societal values. As a DLI Fellow, she looks forward to thoughtful collaboration with her peers and to exploring, in particular, the challenges that blockchain and AI pose for law and legal institutions.