Who We Are

Partner, Alden Law Group, PLLC

Michelle Bercovici is a partner with Alden Law Group and represents federal employees across the globe as well as private sector and local government employees in Maryland and the District of Columbia in employment discrimination, retaliation, and whistleblowing claims. Michelle joined ALG in 2007.

Michelle’s practice includes representing federal employees in a wide range of matters – from unequal pay claims, discrimination and sexual harassment claims, challenging proposed discipline and terminations, Inspector General investigations, Army Regulation 15 investigations, whistleblower matters, overtime claims, security clearance actions, and reasonable accommodation and disability discrimination claims. She has extensive experience representing clients in a variety of specialized fields and positions, including: Foreign Service Officers, Senior Executive Service (SES) members, Special Agents, veterans, healthcare professionals, air traffic controllers, laborers, engineers, IT professionals, teachers, LGBT-specific concerns, and individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities. She represents federal employees in litigation before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Her practice also includes representation of federal unions in Executive and Congressional agencies, negotiating union contracts, filing grievances, arbitrations, and unfair labor practice charges, and litigation before the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) and the Congressional Office of Compliance.

Active in professional associations, Michelle has served in several elected and appointed leadership roles at the District of Colombia Bar, beginning with election to the D.C. Bar Employment and Labor Law Section in 2010, and subsequent service as Co-Chair from 2013-2015. In 2013, Michelle was selected as a member of the Inaugural Class of the John Payton Leadership Academy of the District of Columbia Bar, an intensive leadership training program. Michelle was appointed as Chair of the D.C. Bar Council on Sections in 2015. Michelle currently serves as an appointed member of the D.C. Bar Board of Governors’ Leadership Development Committee (2016-present), and on the D.C. Bar Communities Committee, which oversees the Bar’s twenty-one practice area-specific communities. While serving on the Leadership Development Committee, Michelle played a vital role in a major initiative to transform and rebrand the Bar’s Sections into the D.C. Bar Communities, for which she and other Committee members were honored in 2017 with the D.C. Bar’s Frederick B. Abramson Award, which recognizes significantly contributions to the Bar and its members through innovation or unusual dedication.

Michelle has shared her extensive knowledge of labor and employment law with the legal community as a speaker and moderator in multiple continuing legal education courses with the D.C. Bar, National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and the Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association (MWELA). In 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, Michelle was named a Rising Star in the Washington, D.C. edition of Super Lawyers.

Additionally, Michelle authored Biotechnology Beyond the Embryo: Science, Ethics, and Responsible Regulation of Egg Donation to Protect Women's Rights, 29 Women's Rights Law Reporter 193 (2008), and was a contributing author to an American Bar Association publication assessing the Americans with Disabilities Act. (ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Employee Benefits Committee, Report of the Subcommittee on Employment Discrimination and Employee Benefits, 2010 Midwinter Meeting, Section IV - Americans with Disabilities Act (Feb. 2010). Michelle also served as editor of the DC Practice Manual chapter on Employment and Labor Law in (2013 and 2012 editions).

Michelle earned her J.D., cum laude, from American University Washington College of Law in 2007. While in law school, Michelle served as a staff member on the American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law and clerked with the National Treasury Employees Union and the Federal Sector Hearings Unit of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Washington Field Office.

Michelle has been a member of the D.C. Bar since 2009 and was admitted to the Maryland Bar in January 2008. Michelle is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Recent speaking engagements include:

• The Changing Legal Landscape of the Civil Service, Metropolitan Washington Employment Association Annual Conference, Washington DC, February 2019.
• Put It on Ice: Employment Decisions During the Hiring Freeze, Changing Currents in Employment Law 2017, DC Bar Continuing Legal Education, October 2017.
• Settlement of Federal Employee Disputes, National Employment Lawyers Association Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX, June 2017.
• Strategies for Representing Whistleblowers in the Federal Government, National Employment Lawyers Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, June 2015.
• Representing Federal Employees: Successful Strategies in Settlement Negotiations, National Employment Lawyers Association Fall Conference, Washington, DC, Moderator & Presenter, October 2014.
• Employment Leave: Practitioner Perspectives, D.C. Bar, Moderator, June 2013.
• Law and Procedures in Representing Federal Employee Whistleblowers, D.C. Bar, Moderator, April 2013.
• Panel Discussion on Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012, D.C. Bar, Moderator, March 2013.
• EEOC’s Final Regulations Implementing the ADA Amendments Act: Navigating New Territory, D.C. Bar, Moderator, May 2011.