Free Newsletter
Transactional: Michele Kloeppel
Staff Report//April 9, 2026//
Partner
Thompson Coburn
St. Louis
Michele Kloeppel began her career in private practice before spending more than a decade in in-house corporate roles, most notably as corporate counsel for Panera Bread Company. That experience deepened her understanding of the pressures executives and general counsel face and shaped her commitment to delivering sound, practical and actionable counsel.
Returning to private practice, Kloeppel developed a corporate securities and compliance practice counseling public and private companies on SEC reporting, board governance, listing requirements, disclosure and executive compensation. She has represented companies in mergers and acquisitions valued between $15 million and $600 million on both buy and sell sides and has crafted complex commercial agreements spanning employment, supply, distribution and consulting arrangements.
Kloeppel also co-chairs her firm’s Corporate & Securities Practice Group and serves on its Management Committee. In 2025, she led a donation drive and service day at LifeWise STL. She said the practice of law is “a lifelong dedication to learning.”
Woman of the Year
2026 Honorees
Related Content
Legal Tech
- New dedicated coverage of tech challenges facing law firms and legal departments
- Gemini Legal launches DraftEngine for civil litigation forms
- Lawyers continue to grapple with AI ethical issues
Latest Opinion Digests
- Insurance-Interpleader-Competing Claims to Insurance Proceeds
- Employer-Employee-Discrimination-Hostile Work Environment
- Criminal Law-Rape-Oral and Written Judgments
- Torts-Defamation-Official Immunity
- Real Property-Adverse Possession-Oral Agreement for Sale
- Domestic Relations-Termination of Parental Rights-Parental Unfitness
- Criminal Law-Violation of Order of Protection-Scope of Cross-Examination
Top stories
- 8th Circuit affirms denial of preliminary injunction against SB 751
- New dedicated coverage of tech challenges facing law firms and legal departments
- Parity Act claim against insurer for child’s treatment survives motion to dismiss
- ABA opinion addresses client restrictions in engagement letters
- U.S. District Court allows plaintiffs to amend complaint alleging fraud
- AAA Insurance faces $21.5M bad faith verdict in Clay County
- Legal Limelight: Meghan S. Largent champions landowners in takings cases
- Supreme Court rejects bright-line rule on FAA worker exemption
