Michelle L. Turner, J.D.
General Counsel Chief/Senior Attorney at Fort Bend County- Claim this Profile
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Bio
Credentials
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Law License
The Missouri BarMay, 2003- Nov, 2024 -
Law License
State Bar of TexasNov, 2001- Nov, 2024
Experience
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Fort Bend County
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United States
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Government Administration
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700 & Above Employee
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General Counsel Chief/Senior Attorney
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Sep 2015 - Present
Serves as managing attorney for the General Counsel Division providing in-house legal counsel to County government client with a total annual budget that exceeds $350M, 2,800+ personnel, and serving +750K County residents. Provides direct counsel to elected and appointed officials, including Commissioners Court and its Executive Managers and Directors. Regularly attends public board meetings including both closed-door executive sessions and live broadcast public sessions, providing legal counsel and ensuring compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act.Drafts, reviews, and summarizes legislation; advises strategies for compliance and tracks legislative activity on matters affecting County government. Serves as primary legal advisor to County Purchasing Agent on procurement law, permissible use of County funds, and selection of vendors awarded contracts for County goods and services. Subject-matter expertise on complex taxation agreements:o Drafts and negotiates local property tax abatement agreements intended to attract new industry and commercial enterprises to the County and to encourage the retention and development of existing businesses, resulting in a combined increase in value of +$1B to the County ’s 2018 appraised ad valorem tax values for properties owned by participating companies (most recent data available).o Drafted and recommended approval of the County’s first and only letter of non-opposition issued to private industry applicant submitting a Foreign Trade Zone Usage Driven Site application. Resulting in successfully negotiated compensation to the County for the loss of ad valorem taxes that would result from the applicant’s Foreign-Trade Zone activation and drafted the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (“PILOT”) Agreement for Fort Bend. Subject property value exceeded $17 million dollars.
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General Counsel/Assistant County Attorney
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Dec 2007 - Sep 2015
Provided legal counsel to elected officials and department heads to protect the County from civil liability and to ensure that actions undertaken by representatives of the County were in accordance with applicable laws.Drafted and reviewed legal documents such as contracts, interlocal agreements, and policies and resolutions and participated in negotiations related to such documents. Conducted legal research and drafted legal opinions. Analyzed and responded to a yearly average of 400 requests for public record information in a timely manner and conducted live presentations for employees upon request of the County Human Resources Department.Represented County in judicial and administrative proceedings for mental health commitments, animal seizures, alcohol licensing, commercial property disputes, depositions, and subpoenas.Solely responsible for establishing internal office process and drafting all necessary legal documents to facilitate the filing of court ordered mental health commitments for individuals presenting a substantial risk of serious harm to self or others, as authorized under the Texas Health and Safety Code and which have continued to be used to support the more than 700 commitments that were filed in 2018 (most recent data available). Spearheaded county interdisciplinary team charged with establishing work process for receiving, reviewing and adjudicating applications for beer and wine licensing retailer permits under the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Code, wrote the Order Establishing Local Distance Regulations for Alcohol Sales and developed procedures for requesting and approving variances to the Order. Appeared on Animal Cops: Houston in April 2010 for removing approximately 50 cruelly treated animals from their caretaker, the largest number of animals saved in single cause of action in the history of the County Attorney’s Office.
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Texas Department of Public Safety
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Law Enforcement
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700 & Above Employee
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Agency Attorney
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Apr 2002 - Jan 2008
Represented the Texas Department of Public Safety, a state agency, before the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) in +5K contested cases presided over by Administrative Law Judges. Office stations were in Bryan, Texas and Houston, Texas. Presented the State’s case in chief during hearings for assigned docket, handling all related litigation tasks. Selected as the sole attorney to manage and defend all administrative rulings appealed to County Courts for the Houston metropolitan office providing service to Harris County and adjacent counties. Trained junior attorneys on effective case preparation and presentation.
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The Law Office of Cathy Steele
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Clayton, Missouri
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Summer Law Clerk
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May 1999 - Aug 2000
Researched and drafted legal documents and memoranda in the areas of Employment Law, Commercial Tax Appeals, Family Law and Personal Injury Researched and drafted legal documents and memoranda in the areas of Employment Law, Commercial Tax Appeals, Family Law and Personal Injury
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Education
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1998 - 2001
University of Missouri-Columbia
Juris Doctor (J.D.), Law -
1994 - 1998
McNeese State University
Bachelor's Degree, Speech Communication -
Ritenour HS
Community
