Ashley Davis

shley Davis is a partner at MichieHamlett in Charlottesville. She is a legal strategist and litigator who focuses her practice on complex litigation, products liability, wrongful death, explosions and fires, food poisoning, federal practice, and appellate advocacy.

Ashley is a member of the Boyd-Graves Conference, of the prestigious Boyd-Graves Conference, an invitation-only conference of the Virginia State Bar that brings together lawyers from all regions of the state specializing in different practice areas to meet and discuss ways to improve the law, which makes recommendations to the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Virginia General Assembly. In 2025, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia appointed Ashley to the Virginia Model Jury Instructions Committee, which is responsible for drafting the model jury instructions that are used in criminal and civil cases.

She was named an “Influential Woman of Law” and a “Go To Lawyer for Appellate Law” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. She is a “Super Lawyer,” is listed in the Top 50 Richmond Super Lawyers and Top 100 Virginia Super Lawyers, and she has been included in the “Ones to Watch” list in Best Lawyers in America since 2021.

Ashley is an adjunct professor who teaches trial advocacy at the University of Richmond’s T. C. Williams School of Law, and she a former instructor of Legal Research and Writing for the Paralegal Studies program at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is a sought-after public speaker and has given lectures nationwide on a variety of litigation topics including sovereign immunity, products liability, premises liability, foodborne illness, federal procedure, corporate depositions, insurance, e-discovery, trial techniques, motions practice, legal writing, legal ethics, and effective techniques for handling out-of-state litigation. She has been asked to speak by the American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (VTLA), the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys (VADA), the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, the Federal Bar Association (FBA), the Richmond Bar Association (RBA), the Henrico County Bar Association (HCBA), the Metropolitan Richmond Women’s Bar Association (MRWBA), NALA (the National Association of Legal Assistants), the Richmond Paralegal Association, the Institute for Paralegal Education, Strafford, and the National Business Institute.

She serves on the Board of Governors for the VTLA and is active in the legislative efforts of that organization.  She is an active member of the Amicus Curiae Committee and she regularly writes briefs to the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Virginia Court of Appeals, and the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals promoting justice and access to courts on behalf of injured people. She is a member and former chair of VTLA’s Continuing Legal Education Committee, Pro Bono Committee, and Women’s Caucus.

Ashley is active in pro bono and serves on the Board of the Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC), the Board of Directors for the Greater Richmond Bar Foundation (GRBF), and she is the former chair of the Richmond Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee.

Ashley graduated with High Honors in the top 10 of her law school class from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. from the College of William and Mary, and she pursued a Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh.

She is fluent in Spanish, and before attending law school, she lived and worked as an archaeologist in Mexico and the Caribbean.

• J.D. with High Honors (Top 10), The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• B.A. magna cum laude, The College of William & Mary (Phi Beta Kappa)

• American Association for Justice
• American Bar Association
• Boyd-Graves Conference
• Richmond Bar Association
• Virginia Bar Association
• Virginia Trial Lawyers Association

• Supreme Court of the United States
• Supreme Court of Virginia
• Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Eastern and Western Districts of Virginia

• Board Member, Greater Richmond Bar Foundation
• Board Member, PTA
• Former Chair, Richmond Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee

• Go To Lawyer for Appellate Law – Virginia Lawyers Weekly (2023)
• Influential Woman of Law, by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (2022)
• Best Lawyers in America – “Ones to Watch” (2021-present)
• Virginia Super Lawyers (2019-2024)
  • Top 50: Richmond Super Lawyers (2024)
  • Top 100: Virginia Super Lawyers (2024)

• Speaker, American Association for Justice National Convention, “Using Motions Successfully in Auto Cases,” July 2024
• Speaker, American Association for Justice National Convention, “Advice from a Former Defense Lawyer,” July 2023
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Annual Torts Seminar, “Effective Motions in Limine,” May 2022.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention, “Plaintiff’s Offensive Motions and Strategies,” March 2022.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention, “Case Law Update,” March 2022.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Paralegal Seminar, “Legal Landscape in the Time of Covid – Part II,” November 2021.
• CLE Presenter, Richmond Bar Association, “Settlement Agreements,” (October 2021)
• CLE Presenter, Richmond Bar Association, “Motions in the Life Cycle of a Civil Case,” (October 2021)
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Annual Convention, “Case Law Update,” March 2021.
• CLE Presenter, Richmond Bar Association, “Virginia Case Law Update,” May 2021.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Paralegal Seminar, “Legal Landscape in the Time of Covid,” November 2020.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Advanced Paralegal Retreat, “More Legal Ethics“ (2021).
• CLE Presenter, National Business Institute (NBI), “Personal Injury 101: Major Elements of Local Procedure,” September 2020.
• CLE Presenter, American Association for Justice (AAJ)‘s Annual Convention, Automobile “30(b)(6) Corporate Representative Depositions,” July 2020.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Convention, “Case Law Update,” March 2020
• CLE Presenter and Panelist, Strafford, “Food Poisoning and Other Foodborne Harm: Claims and Defenses” (webinar), December 2019.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Paralegal Seminar, “Federal Litigation,” November 2019.
• CLE Presenter and Panel Moderator, Richmond Bar Association’s “Updates from the Supreme Court of Virginia,” October 2019.
• CLE Presenter, Allen & Allen Annual Series, “Legal Ethics,” October 2019.
• Seminar Chair, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Advocacy Seminar, “Appellate Advocacy 101” (webinar), September 2019.
• Seminar Chair, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Annual Advanced Automobile Litigation Retreat, “Litigating Motor Vehicle Cases in the Digital Age,” July 2019.
• CLE Presenter, Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association (WTLA) Annual Convention, “Corporate Depositions,” June 2019.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Torts Seminar, “Limited Sources of Coverage,” May 2019.
• CLE Presenter, Metropolitan Women’s Bar Association (MRWBA), “Legal Ethics,” February 2019.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyer Association’s Premises Liability Retreat, “Corporate Depositions in Premises Liability Cases,” January 2019.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyer Association’s Annual Paralegal Seminar, “Legal Ethics for Paralegals in Virginia,” November 2018.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyer Association’s Sources of Coverage Seminar, “Personal Auto Liability Coverage,” October 2018.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyer Association’s Annual Advanced Automobile Litigation Retreat, “Discovery and Technology at the Scene of a Collision,” July 2018.
• CLE Presenter, National Business Institute (NBI), “Legal Ethics: Personal Injury Bootcamp,” May 2018.
• CLE Presenter, NALA – The Paralegal Association, “Corporate Depositions – What Legal Professionals Need to Know” (webinar), March 2018.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyer Association’s Annual Convention, “Underinsured Motorist Coverage Review and Checklist,” March 2019.
• Seminar Chair, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Seminar sponsored by the Women’s Caucus, “Making Technology Work for You: Using Trial Presentation Software to Save Money and Take Your Practice to the Next Level,” December 2017.
• CLE Panelist, Georgetown Law’s 14th Annual Advanced eDiscovery Institute, “Diversity and Cooperation in Advocacy,” November 2017.
• CLE Panelist, Georgetown Law’s 14th Annual Advanced eDiscovery Institute, “Motions Practice? Don’t Just Go Through the Motions,” November 2017.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Paralegal Seminar, “Litigation Toolbox – Legal Research for Motions and Briefs,” November 2017.
• CLE Presenter, American Association for Justice’s Annual Convention, “Corporate Depositions,” July 2017.
• CLE Presenter, Virginia Trial Lawyers Association’s Annual Convention, “Corporate Depositions in Virginia,” March 2017.

• Sources of Coverage, Editor (2018)
• Sources of Coverage, Editor (2023)
• VTLA Journal: “Training Staff to Safeguard Confidential Client Information” (2014)
• Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, Journal of Civil Litigation Vol. 21(1):1-8: “Obtaining Summary Judgment in a Negligence Case in Virginia and the Viability of the Contributory Negligence Doctrine in Virginia”(2009)