Michelle D. Craig is Managing Attorney of Transcendent Law Group. With over 15 years of Am200 law firm experience, she became the first African American female Partner in the New Orleans Office of an Am200 regional law firm before starting her own firm. She holds dual degrees, including a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and a Bachelor of the Civil Law (B.C.L.), from the Louisiana State University (LSU) Law Center. She also studied International and Comparative Law at the Université d'Aix Marseille III in Aix en Provence, France. In her practice, she facilitates effective resolution of legal matters for small to large companies in all practice areas. She regularly provides legal counsel to existing and newly formed charter schools. In that capacity, she assists charter schools with their employment and legal needs from inception through operation, including drafting employment documents, vendor agreements, student handbooks, parent teacher handbooks and authorization documents. She also assists with ongoing personnel matters, board governance and procedures, compliance with the charter application processes, and the selection and training of administrators. In addition, she serves as the outside general counsel for several companies by providing transactional and litigation advice, proactive management and human resources guidance and counseling. To assist small and medium-sized firms in their process improvement, she created Prosquire, a legal project management software. She is very active in the community and very passionate about the economic sustainability and development of the New Orleans area. She currently serves as both the Chairperson of the Orleans Parish Civil Service Commission and the Secretary of the Downtown Development District in New Orleans.