LAW PORTAL
- About
About USC Gould
USC Gould is a top-ranked law school with a 120-year history and reputation for academic excellence. We are located on the beautiful 228-acre USC University Park Campus, just south of downtown Los Angeles.
- Academics
Academics
Learn about our interdisciplinary curriculum, experiential learning opportunities and specialized areas.
Student Quick Links:
- Admissions
Admissions
USC Gould helps prepare you for a stellar legal career. You can pursue a JD degree, one of our numerous graduate and international offerings, or an online degree or certificate.
- Students
Students
Participate in an unparalleled learning experience with diversity of people and thought. Get involved in the law school community and participate in activities that enhance your studies.
Student Quick Links:
- Careers
Careers
We work closely with students, graduates and employers to support successful career goals and outcomes. Our overall placement rate is consistently strong, with 94 percent of our JD class employed within 10 months after graduation.
- Faculty
Faculty
Our faculty is distinguished for its scholarship, as well as for its commitment to teaching. Our 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio creates an intimate and collegial learning environment.
- Alumni and Giving
- Admissions
Melissa Lerner
USC Gould School of Law
- FACULTY DIRECTORY
- LECTURERS IN LAW DIRECTORY
- EXPERTS DIRECTORY
- FACULTY IN THE NEWS
- SCHOLARSHIP AND PUBLICATIONS
- DISTINCTIONS AND AWARDS
- + CENTERS AND INITIATIVES
- CENTER FOR LAW AND PHILOSOPHY (CLP)
- CENTER FOR LAW AND SOCIAL SCIENCE (CLASS)
- CENTER FOR LAW, HISTORY AND CULTURE (CLHC)
- CENTER FOR TRANSNATIONAL LAW AND BUSINESS (CTLB)
- INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM INSTITUTE (IRI)
- PACIFIC CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY AND ETHICS
- SAKS INSTITUTE FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW, POLICY, AND ETHICS
- + WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES
Lecturer in Law
699 Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90089-0074 USA
Last Updated: January 5, 2022
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
NBC Los Angeles
January 18, 2022
Re: Jody David Armour
Jody Armour was interviewed about Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. "Dr. King wasn't just fighting for a colorblind America, he was fighting for a just America."
RECENT SCHOLARSHIP
D. Daniel Sokol
November, 2021
D. Daniel Sokol posted an Op-ed to the National Post titled “Competition law reforms not needed to meet the challenges of Big Tech,” November 17, 2021.
Robin Craig
November, 2021
"Environmental Law, Disrupted by COVID-19" (with Rebecca Bratspies, Vanessa Casado Perez, Lissa Griffin, Keith Hirokawa, Sarah Krakoff, Katrina Kuh, Jessica Owley, Melissa Powers, Shannon Roesler, Jonathan Rosenbloom, J.B. Ruhl, Erin Ryan, & David Takacs). In Environmental Law, Disrupted, edited by K. Hirokawa & J. Owley. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute, 2021.
Robert K. Rasmussen
November, 2021
“COVID-19 Debt and Bankruptcy Infrastructure,” Yale Law Journal Forum 131 (2021): 337.
