Judge Michelle D. Sisco: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

Hon. Michelle Sisco is a judge for the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Hillsborough County. She was appointed to the bench by former Governor Jeb Bush in 2005.

Sisco has held assignments in the Criminal and Civil Trial Divisions and has presided over death penalty Post Conviction Relief motions in the Criminal Division, which include death warrants signed by the Governor. Sisco began her judicial career as a judge for the Hillsborough County Court after receiving an appointment to the seat by then-Governor Bush in 2002.

She attended Vanderbilt University, where she received a B.A. in political science and government in 1988. Sisco went on to complete a J.D. at the University of Florida, Fredric G. Levin College of Law, in 1991.

After law school, she joined the Office of the State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County, where she began as an assistant state attorney. During her tenure there, she prosecuted capital murder cases and eventually became deputy chief of the Felony Division.

Then, in 1998, Sisco left the public sector to enter into private practice as an associate at Trombley & Hanes, P.A., where she specialized in white-collar criminal defense matters. She remained with the firm until her appointment to the County Court bench in 2002.

She has served on the Criminal Punishment Code Task Force (chair designee), the Commission on Trial Court Performance and Accountability, the Florida Bar’s Criminal Procedure Rules Committee (circuit judges liaison), and the Florida Bar’s Constitutional Judiciary Committee (chair).

Her memberships have included the J. Clifford Cheatwood American Inn of Court (master) and the Herbert G. Goldburg- Ronald K. Cacciatore Criminal Law American Inn of Court (master). Sisco has also served on the board of directors of the Vanderbilt University Alumni Association and the Beach Park Women’s Club (and First Vice President) and on the Junior League Community advisory board as was a past president of the Kappa Delta House Corporation Board.

Her family moved to Tampa, Florida, in 1981, where her father worked as a successful restaurateur. Sisco is married to fellow attorney, Paul Sisco, and they have two children.