Michelle Alvarado Available Now

About Michelle Alvarado

Michelle Alvarado Salermo brings over 14 years of high-speed service in the U.S. Army, federal government, and private legal sector to her role as Associate Attorney in Tully Rinckey PLLC’s Buffalo office. A former U.S. Army Sergeant First Class, combat veteran, and former federal Claims Examiner for the U.S. Department of Labor, Michelle provides mission-driven legal counsel in federal litigation, military law, federal employment, security clearance defense, corporate law, and emerging cybersecurity and technology law. Michelle began her military career as an Ammunition Specialist (89B) and quickly rose through the ranks, making history as the first woman in the U.S. Army Reserve, 1st MSC Puerto Rico and the 98th Division to qualify as an 11B Infantryman—the Queen of Battle. She deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, where she led money-drop missions overseeing millions in U.S. government assets, earning the Joint Forces Achievement Medal. She later served as a Drill Sergeant at Fort Benning and Fort Jackson, where she was honored as Drill Sergeant of the Cycle. She trained and mentored hundreds of soldiers and junior leaders, instilling discipline, courage, and accountability—values she now brings to the courtroom. Michelle went on to serve as a Legal Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) with the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate (OSJA) for the 1st Mission Support Command, where she led legal operations on providing legal advice to senior command on a wide range of legal matters including UCMJ actions, administrative separations, adverse actions, congressional inquiries, FOIA requests, nonjudicial punishment, and command investigations. She also bridged military legal expertise with innovative technology—developing digital legal systems and pioneering the use of AI-powered legal tools to streamline and modernize command-level legal operations. As a federal Claims Examiner/Adjudicator at the U.S. Department of Labor, Michelle issued binding le