Michele E. Turner
Member
Mail: mturner@bbs-law.com
Phone|Fax|Text: 215.665.3344
Office: Philadelphia, PA
Education
Howard University, B.A.
Temple University Beasley School of Law, J.D.
Admissions
Bar Admissions
Pennsylvania
Hobbies/Interests
Cooking
Reading
Supporting youth
Michele E. Turner is a member of Bennett Bricklin & Saltzburg, LLC and is a Co-Chair of the firm’s Municipal Liability team where she principally handles premises liability matters from case inception to trial. She also serves as Co-Chair of the firm’s Toxic Tort team. Michele leads as Chair of the firm’s Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement Committee. She graduated from Howard University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, then received her Juris Doctor from the Temple University’s Beasley School of Law in 1992, receiving recognition for her outstanding advocacy skills. While in law school, Michele mentored Philadelphia high school students through Temple’s Law, Education and Participation program (“LEAP”) and coached these students in city-wide mock trial competitions. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Clifford Scott Green, former Senior Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In 1992, Ms. Turner was a founding member and Assistant Executive Editor of the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review. In 2024 she was named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer®.[i]
Michele served with distinction as an Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia Law Department for six years, serving for a time in the Civil Rights Division, and then in the Claims Division. In the Civil Rights Division, she handled cases stemming from alleged police brutality, false arrest and section 1983 claims against the City of Philadelphia. In this capacity, she second chaired a high profile trial involving the death of a City of Philadelphia inmate and, in another case, was specifically selected to cross-examine the plaintiff in an alleged sexual harassment case against a high-ranking prison official, which settled prior to trial. In the Claims Division, Michele handled many claims arising under the Pennsylvania Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, ranging from slip and falls to catastrophic injury and death cases. She has conducted countless depositions, participated in numerous arbitrations and has tried many cases to verdict, all with great success. In the products liability area, Michele has represented numerous companies in multiple jurisdictions in the defense of asbestos claims including equipment manufacturers, component parts manufacturers and companies against whom traditional premises/negligence claims are asserted. She has tried asbestos cases to verdict, participated in mediations and conducted countless depositions of both fact and expert witnesses.
Michele is regularly appointed as a Judge Pro Tem for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, and has served as an arbitrator for the court as well. She has served as a volunteer attorney for the Support Center for Child Advocates, an organization committed to quality legal representation for abused and neglected children in Philadelphia. She was selected for the First Judicial District Honor Roll for Pro Bono service in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and she is a 2000 fellow of the Academy of Advocacy. She has lectured for the PBI to other attorneys about courtroom tactics, and to judges about case valuation and alternative forms of dispute resolution. She is a member of the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Bar Association and serves on the Executive Board of the Philadelphia Association of Defense Counsel. She is admitted to practice in all Pennsylvania trial and appellate courts. She prides herself on the careful, pretrial preparation of cases and, in particular, the optimal use of discovery proceedings to the advantage of the client. She has extensive experience from both sides of the courtroom, having represented defendants and plaintiffs during her career.
Outside of law, Michele enjoys spending time with her husband and three daughters. She also enjoys cooking, reading and supporting youth through service on the board of trustees of an independent school, as the servant leader of her church’s Education and Scholarship ministry and through membership in other organizations devoted to the encouragement, support and mentorship of youth.
[i] The Super Lawyers® list is issued by Thomson Reuters under criteria applied by Super Lawyers®. A description of the selection methodology can be found at http://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court or the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
