About Michelle S.
Michelle S. Stratton built her legal foundation at Louisiana College, where she completed a bachelor’s degree in history in 2002, and then at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University, earning a J.D. and a Graduate Diploma of Civil Law in 2006. Her academic record placed her at the intersection of common-law and civil-law traditions, an uncommon pairing that informed her approach to complex legal questions early on.
Her first years after law school were spent in the federal appellate world. In 2009 she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edith Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The following year she was a Bristow Fellow at the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States. In 2011 she clerked at the highest level, working as a law clerk to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States. Those roles exposed her to high-stakes briefing and oral argument preparation across a broad array of constitutional and statutory issues.
Stratton moved into private practice after her time with the federal courts. She joined Baker Botts, L.L.P., as an associate in 2012 and worked on matters that required careful appellate and trial-court strategy. In 2015 she became counsel at Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, L.L.P., a position she continues to hold. Her transition from large national firm to a regional practice reflects a career pattern of applying federal appellate experience to client representation in diverse forums.
She is admitted to practice in Louisiana and Texas. Her memberships in the Louisiana State Bar date from 2010 and in the State Bar of Texas from 2013, and both remain current. Those dual admissions allow her to handle matters that cross state lines and to appear in both state and federal courts within those jurisdictions.
Stratton’s resume centers on appellate exposure, federal-court experience and private practice handling complex litigation. Her background includes time inside the Solicitor General’s office and at the Supreme Court, followed by practice at an international law firm and a regional litigation firm. She serves as counsel at Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, L.L.P., and her current practice focuses on appellate and litigation matters.
