Melissa Lerner
USC Gould School of Law

Melissa Y. Lerner is a senior associate at Lavely & Singer, P.C., where she represents actors, social media stars, musicians, producers and production companies, managers and other high-profile clients on a wide variety of matters.

Lerner has worked on defamation, invasion of privacy and right of publicity cases; profit participation audits; intellectual property infringement claims; corporate, partnership and employment matters; real estate and homeowners association litigation; tortious interference claims; and assault and battery cases, including restraining order proceedings. She has participated in mediations and arbitrations, litigated in state and federal court in California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oklahoma and New York and drafted demand letters, summary judgment motions and appellate briefs, among other materials.

Prior to joining Lavely & Singer, Lerner worked at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP as an associate in the intellectual property litigation department, and then at Foley & Lardner, LLP, where she broadened her practice to include pharmaceutical class action defense, antitrust law and white collar criminal defense and investigations.

Lerner, a Los Angeles native, earned her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy and International Affairs, with a minor in Near Eastern Studies, and her JD from Columbia Law School. She is admitted to practice law in the State of California.  

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

The New York Times
January 28, 2023
Re: Jody David Armour

Professor Jody Armour was interviewed by the New York Times about the recent policy brutality incident that led to the death of Tyre Nichols. “It’s not just a Black and white issue, but a Black and blue one. And when you put on that blue uniform, it often becomes the primary identity that drowns out any other identities that might compete with it," Armour said.

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Jonathan Barnett
December, 2022

"The China Innovation Challenge." Center for Strategic & International Studies interview, Washington, D.C.

Robin Craig
December, 2022

"The Clean Water Act and the Ocean: An Unfulfilled Promise." Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Law 14 (2022): 3.

Robin Craig
December, 2022

"Rights of Nature Is Becoming a U.S. Reality." Natural Resources & Environment. Prepublished December 2, 2022.