Ava Cavaco
Address: 60 South 6th St., Suite 2800
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Email: acavaco@nighgoldenberg.com
Staff: Melanie Frenz mfrenz@nighgoldenberg.com
Ava grew up in Hawai’i on the island of O’ahu. Growing up as an indigenous and asian child on a very diverse island, 30 miles long, in the middle of the ocean, shaped and contextualized Ava’s perception of equity and justice, and ingrained in her an insatiable need and curiosity to understand systemic institutions and the law.
As a first-generation college student, Ava attended the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, where she competed as a NCAA Division 1 athlete on the Rainbow Wahine Track and Field team in the shot put, hammer throw, and 20lb weight events.
After college, Ava served as the healthcare committee clerk in the Hawai’i State Legislature, where she began to see the law as something accessible, collaborative, and evolving. Her time in health policy inspired her to pursue a career in healthcare compliance and administration. She worked in various roles in academic medicine, OBGYN research, and women’s health. Seeing the underrepresentation of issues meaningful to her influenced her to pursue law as a 2nd career.
In law school, Ava clerked in the general counsel’s office healthcare compliance division for Planned Parenthood North Central States, and at the Dept. of Justice US Attorney’s Office – Civil Division as their healthcare fraud law clerk. She then clerked at one of the largest plaintiff firms in Minnesota where she went on to become an associate attorney specializing in personal injury, medical malpractice, mass torts, and medical device litigation.
When Ava is not in the office, she can be found teaching Torts as an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, skiing, pretending to golf in charity tournaments, or eating out at the latest and greatest hotspot.
Bar Admissions
- 2019, State of Minnesota
- 2020 U.S. District Court of Minnesota
- 2020, U.S. District Court of Michigan
- 2020, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- 2020, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
Areas of Practice
- Defective Medical Devices
- Exposure to Chemicals
- Defective Products
- Defective Drugs/Pharmaceuticals
- Medical Malpractice
- Personal Injury
- Slip and Fall Accidents
- Dog Bites
Education
- Juris Doctorate, Mitchell Hamline College of Law
- Moot Court: National Native American Law Student Association Moot Court
- Student Body President
- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, University of Hawai’i at Manoa
- Certificate in Conversational Japanese, Konan Daigaku, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
Leadership Positions
Leadership Development Committee, In Re: Philips Recalled CPAP, Bi-Level Pap, and Mechanical Ventilator Products Litigation
– Co-Chair, Leadership Development Committee
– Member, Discovery Committee
Honors and Awards
- 2022-present, Selected by Minnesota Super Lawyers– Rising Star
- 2017-18 American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Emerging Leaders Fellowship
- 2015 Minnesota Asian Pacific Bar Association Public Interest Summer Law Fellowship
- 2015 Minnesota American Indian Bar Association Law Student Scholar Award
- 2007 Western Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete Award
Presentations & Publications
- CPAP Update, CPAP Litigation Group, American Association for Justice, 2023
- Building Your Book of Business, MN Assn of Justice New Lawyer Bootcamp, 2022
- Mass Torts, Can I do This? The Inaugural Shades of Mass Annual Meeting, 2022
- Overcoming the Slip & Falls of Statutory Immunity, MN Association of Justice Premises Liability Seminar, 2022
- Updates On Current Litigations – CPAP, Harris Martin’s MDL Conference, 2022
- CPAP Litigation Update, Mass Torts Made Perfect Connect CPAP Webinar, 2022
- CPAP – A Class Action Perspective, Mass Torts Made Perfect, 2021
- Lawyering w/ a Reproductive Justice Lens, If/When/How Leadership Institute, 2018
- Reproductive Justice 101, Minnesota Lavender Bar and MHSL Joint CLE, 2018
Professional Associations and Memberships
- American Association for Justice – Member
- Board of Governors – MN Revitalization Representative
- New Lawyers Division Co-Chair, Professional Development Committee
- Minority Caucus Co-Chair, Scholarship Committee
- Minnesota Association for Justice – Member
- Minnesota American Indian Bar Association – Member
- Minnesota Women Lawyers – Member