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Ava Cavaco Personal Injury Attorney

Ava Cavaco

Associate Attorney

Email : acavaco@nighgoldenberg.com

Phone : 612-656-0220

Staff : Melanie Frenz (mfrenz@nighgoldenberg.com)

Biography

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, 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. 

Practice Areas

BAR ADMISSIONS

Education

Leadership Positions

Honors and Awards

  • 2023 National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 – MN Civil Plaintiff
  • 2023 American Association of Justice New Lawyers Divison Excellence Award
  • 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

  • Ethical Challenges in Mass Torts, Shades of Mass, 2023
  • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: How to Attract and Keep Your Team Looking Like the Future of Mass Torts, Mass Torts Made Perfect, October 2023
  • Building Your Book of Business, MN Association of Justice New Lawyers’ Bootcamp, 2023
  • Deconstructing Bias, MN Women Trial Lawyers Caucus Conference, 2023
  • 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

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