Frisco, TEXAS, Aug. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Michelle May O'Neil, founder of the appellate-first family law practice Concierra Legal, has earned recognition in the Best Lawyers in America® 2027 edition in both Appellate Practice and Family Law. This marks her eleventh consecutive year of dual recognition by the profession's oldest and most rigorous peer-review publication. O'Neil has appeared in Best Lawyers every year since 2016.
Michelle ONeil Best Lawyers in America 2027
Best Lawyers recognizes fewer than 5% of practicing U.S. attorneys, and it does so entirely through confidential peer and client review. No attorney can nominate themselves or pay to appear. The process spans 203 regional jurisdictions, 151 practice areas, and more than 17,000 firms. Earning the distinction in two separate practice areas at once, as O'Neil has for eleven straight years, requires clearing that peer-review bar twice.
"The lawyers who reviewed me are the ones who have seen me in court, read my briefs, and listened to my arguments," O'Neil said. "That is what gives this recognition its weight. It does not come from marketing. It comes from the people who observe the work."
Who Is Michelle May O'Neil? Key Facts
- Role: Founder of Concierra Legal, an appellate-first family law practice based in Frisco, Texas, serving clients statewide and nationally through co-counsel arrangements.
- Board Certification: Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 1997.
- Appellate Record: 195+ appellate matters, 55 cases before the Supreme Court of Texas, and one application for review to the United States Supreme Court.
- Trial Record: 37+ jury trials across 34 years of practice, licensed in Texas since 1992.
- Best Lawyers in America: Recognized every year since 2016 in both Appellate Practice and Family Law, eleven consecutive years as of the 2027 edition.
- Landmark Cases: Counsel of record on In re Ayad, Moore v. Moore, and Kausland v. Volek, decisions that shape how Texas courts treat premarital agreements today.
- Thought Leadership: Creator of the Identity Stack™ framework, debuted at SXSW 2026 and now taught in curriculum at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
- Institute: Founder of the Institute for Constitutional AI Law, studying due process, evidence, and access to justice in the age of artificial intelligence.
- Recognition: AV Preeminent (Martindale-Hubbell), Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers (16 years), Top 50 Women Texas Super Lawyers (11 years), inaugural Thought Leaders 100.
- Education: J.D. and B.B.A. from Baylor University; post-doctoral certification in Women's Leadership from Harvard Law School (2021).
Why Does Dual Recognition in Appellate Practice and Family Law Matter?
Most attorneys who practice appellate law focus there exclusively. Most family law attorneys, even accomplished ones, never build a substantial appellate practice, because most family law cases settle before trial and few reach the courts of appeals. O'Neil built her career at the intersection where the two disciplines rarely overlap.
That intersection defines how Concierra Legal works. O'Neil applies appellate-first judgment, the discipline of reverse-engineering how a case or an agreement breaks under review, to every matter from the start. When she drafts a prenuptial agreement, she drafts it against the enforceability standards she has argued before Texas appellate courts. When she reviews a case in progress, she identifies the preserved and waived errors that will decide it on appeal. The two disciplines reinforce each other, and dual peer recognition reflects that.
"Most agreements are drafted by lawyers who will never attack one," O'Neil said. "I draft them as someone who attacks them for a living both in the trial court and on appeal. That is what I mean when I say my firm is appellate-first family law firm. I see the situation from the appeal and reverse-engineer it backwards."
What Does Concierra Legal Do?
Concierra Legal is O'Neil's boutique, appellate-first family law practice. The firm concentrates on three areas and takes a limited number of engagements each year to preserve principal-level attention on every matter.
- Family Law Appeals: Appeals in the Texas courts of appeals, the Supreme Court of Texas, and where warranted the Supreme Court of the United States. Most engagements begin with a review of the trial record and a written assessment of what is worth raising on appeal. Appellate work is flat-fee and conducted statewide, largely remotely.
- Prenuptial and Marital Agreement Strategy: Premarital, postnuptial, partition and exchange, cohabitation, and confidentiality agreements for founders, executives, athletes, and individuals with complex assets — drafted against the appellate standards that determine whether they hold.
- Strategic Counsel: Appellate-perspective review for trial counsel and parties who want a second, appellate-trained read on a high-stakes case without changing who is running it — including the emerging constitutional and AI questions that increasingly arrive attached to family matters.
The Lawyer's Lawyer and a National Voice on Legal Excellence
Within the Texas family law bar, O'Neil is known as "a lawyer's lawyer" which means she is the attorney other lawyers call when a case has gone wrong. A substantial share of her appellate work arrives by referral from trial counsel who wants an appellate specialist to protect the record while a case is still in progress.
Her current work reaches beyond the courtroom into the question of what makes a lawyer excellent in the first place. O'Neil is researching and writing on legal excellence in an era when information is universally available and artificial intelligence is reshaping how lawyers work. Her thesis is that excellence is not something that simply happens to a lawyer. Excellence can be designed and cultivated under identifiable conditions that firms can create deliberately rather than leave to chance. That work anchors a growing body of national and international thought leadership spanning legal excellence, the law of identity and name-image-likeness rights, and the ethical duties lawyers owe clients as AI enters practice.
"Our profession tends to treat excellence as something recognized after the fact and rarely examined beforehand," O'Neil said. "I have come to believe the conditions that turn a capable lawyer into an excellent one can be identified and built on purpose. Very few people are asking that question rigorously, and it is the question I most want to answer."
About Best Lawyers in America
Best Lawyers, founded in 1983, is the oldest peer-review guide in the legal profession. Attorneys earn recognition solely through confidential evaluations submitted by peers with direct knowledge of their work — no self-nomination, no paid inclusion. The 2027 U.S. edition spans 203 jurisdictions, 151 practice areas, and more than 17,000 firms, recognizing fewer than 5% of practicing attorneys. O'Neil's profile appears at bestlawyers.com/lawyers/michelle-may-o-neil/162094.
About Concierra Legal
Concierra Legal is a boutique, appellate-first family law practice serving founders, executives, professional athletes, and individuals with high-stakes matters that are too complex, too consequential, or too personal to be handled like a commodity. Led by board-certified family law trial attorney Michelle May O'Neil, the firm focuses on family law appeals, prenuptial and marital agreement strategy, and strategic counsel on complex personal legal matters. Concierra Legal maintains a selective client roster and is confidential from first contact. This press release does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. More information is available at ConcierraLegal.com.
About Michelle May O'Neil
Michelle May O'Neil is board-certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in family law with 34 years of trial litigation and appellate experience. She has tried 37+ jury trials and handled 195+ appellate cases, including 55 before the Texas Supreme Court and a case filed in the United States Supreme Court. She holds AV Preeminent and Judicial AV ratings from Martindale-Hubbell, is recognized among the Best Lawyers in America in both Appellate Practice and Family Law and has been listed among Texas Super Lawyers for 16 consecutive years. She has been named to the list of the Top 50 Texas Women Super Lawyers for 11 years. O'Neil co-founded O'Neil Wysocki, P.C. (OWLawyers.com), which she led for a decade. She was named to the inaugural Thought Leaders 100 and the Editorial Board of Thought Leaders Press and is the author of the forthcoming book The Fifth Move. She founded Concierra Legal (ConcierraLegal.com) and Concierra Business (ConcierraBusiness.com) to provide concierge strategic architecture for the entrepreneurs, founders, and professionals she has represented for many years.
Michelle ONeil Concierra Legal Appellate Family Law Best Lawyers Excellence
Press Inquiries
Michelle May O'Neil
michelle [at] concierralegal.com
(214) 506-0704
https://ConcierraLegal.com
5 Cowboys Way
Suite 300
Frisco, Texas 75034
