(502) 308-2933 direct (Louisville)
mcoughlin@ndgallilaw.com

Michelle Browning Coughlin brings her years of experience, skill, and passion for managing her client’s brands to her role as Of Counsel at ND Galli Law. Michelle started her legal career in BigLaw and also has experience owning her own IP boutique law practice and as General Counsel to a growing tech company.    

Known for strong client relationship development and retention, Michelle is experienced in advising clients regarding trademark, copyright, trade secrets, and rights of publicity matters, as well as preparing trademark and domain name opposition, cancellation, and other administrative dispute actions before the TTAB, WIPO, and NAF.  Michelle works with her clients on every stage of brand development, from trademark searching, selection, and prosecution, to domain name and social media strategy, to licensing and enforcement. Michelle also drafts and negotiates various types of agreements and transactional documents, including non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), licensing, assignment, and co-existence agreements, website privacy and terms of use policies, mobile app and software agreements, EHR/EMR agreements, and other technology-focused agreements.  Michelle is also knowledgeable regarding various aspects of FTC, HIPAA, COPPA, and other regulatory compliance. 

Michelle has worked with clients across various industries, including health care services, technology, nutritional supplements and food products, fashion retailing, insurance, and, of course, given her location in Louisville, Kentucky, the bourbon and horseracing and horse breeding industries.

For her legal work, Michelle has been included in Chambers, Rising Stars, and Top Lawyers- Louisville, as well as Business First’s Forty Under 40.  She was also included in Louisville Business First’s Twenty People to Know in Law in May 2021.  

In addition to her law practice, Michelle is devoted to issues of gender equity, merging her prior career experience in social work with her law career.  Notably, Michelle is the founder and president of the national nonprofit organization MothersEsquire®, which has more than 7,000 members online and advocates for gender equity, motherhood, and caregiver issues. In November 2019, Michelle authored the children’s book, My Mom, the Lawyer, and donated all proceeds of the book to MothersEsquire to support its advocacy initiatives.

In 2020, Michelle was appointed to the ABA Presidential Commission on Women, and she has also served as an adjunct professor of Gender Law & Policy at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law and Northern Kentucky University Chase School of Law.

For her work in gender equity, Michelle was honored as the recipient of the University of Louisville Mary K. Tachau Gender Equity Award in 2021. Michelle was also selected as the recipient of the Kentucky Bar Association’s Nathaniel R. Harper Award for promoting diversity in the profession, and as the Women Lawyers Association of Jefferson County Member of the Year for her work for gender equality.  In Nov. 2019, she was recognized as one of the 100 Women Who Inspire Us by the ABA’s Women in Litigation Conference.

Michelle speaks frequently on issues of gender equity in the profession, including presenting oral arguments before the Florida Supreme Court in Aug. 2019 on a gender equity rule change. Michelle was the keynote speaker for the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Women Lawyers of Jefferson County and the 2020 ABA Women of Legal Tech Summit. She serves on numerous diversity committees and initiatives.

Michelle and her husband Craig, along with their two teenage daughters, live in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Education

  • University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, magna cum laude, 2009
  • Spalding University, MS. Social Work, 2001
  • Western Kentucky University, B.S., biochemistry, 1997

Bar Admissions:

  • Kentucky
  • Western District of Kentucky
  • Eastern District of Michigan

Contact

Michelle Coughlin
Of Counsel
mcoughlin@ndgallilaw.com

9850 Von Allmen Court
Suite 201, #40876
Louisville, Kentucky, 40241
(502) 485-5359 main
(502) 308-2933 direct