About Michelle Burton

Michelle Burton is the Managing Partner of Shoecraft ♦ Burton LLP, a boutique civil litigation firm specializing in complex insurance coverage, bad faith defense, insurance defense, professional liability and regulatory compliance. Ms. Burton has obtained numerous jury trial defense verdicts for her clients against multi-million dollar claims throughout California. In addition to her trial practice, Ms. Burton is a Certified Appellate Specialist and has authored and argued numerous appeals addressing insurance-related matters including Douglas v. Fidelity Insurance Company, the leading case on rescission in California. She was trial and appellate counsel on a case consolidated for oral argument with Lee v. California Capital Insurance Co., the recently-decided case which provides important guidance to appraisers and umpires for appraisals involving a disputed scope.  She advocated many of the contentions adopted by the Court of Appeal in its published decision.  Ms. Burton provides Fair Claims Training, Good Faith Claims Handling Training, SIU Training and Appraisal Training for her clients. She has also been a panel speaker at the Association of Business Trial Lawyers Annual Seminar on “The Use of Social Media in Jury Selection,” “The Use of Technology During Trial,” “Navigating Insurance Issues in the #MeToo Era,” and was a speaker at the DRI on “Insurance Coverage for the Cannabis Industry.” She has also presented at the Combined Claims Conference on the topic of property appraisals and has given webinars on policy rescission and misrepresentation, good faith claims handling practices, and insurer settlement obligations. She is currently the President of the San Diego Chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, was recognized as a Lawyer of Distinction in 2015-2018 in Civil Litigation, Super Lawyer in 2018 and recipient of Women in the Law Awards for her legal expertise.  She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation which is open to one percent of lawyers for their commitment to the legal profession and their community. Ms. Burton was the Media Chair for the Informed Voters Project educating the public about judicial elections, is the President of Run Women Run a non-partisan Political Action Committee dedicated to the advancement of women in politics and was the recipient of the bronze Presidential Service Award for community service.  Ms. Burton is frequently asked by media to comment on political and legal issues.