The Hon. Michéle Patrão Forsythe is a judge for the 9th Judicial Circuit Family Court of South Carolina. She was elected to the bench by the South Carolina General Assembly in 2016 and re-elected in 2022.
The 9th Circuit includes Berkeley and Charleston Counties.
Prior to her election, Forsythe was a partner at Query, Sautter, Forsythe, LLC since 2010. She joined the firm, then known as Query, Sautter, Gliserman & Price, LLC, as an associate in 2003.
Forsythe received a B.A. in political science from the University of Maryland. She then attended the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and worked at The White House, the United States Senate, and the Department of Defense at Fort Meade before completing a J.D. at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Her memberships include the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the South Carolina Family Court Bench Bar Committee, the South Carolina Interstate Commission for Juveniles, and the James L. Petigru Inn of Court. She is also a Fellow of the South Carolina Liberty and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Forsythe, a first-generation American, is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.