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

Politi Fact
May 23, 2023
Re: David B. Cruz

Professor David Cruz was recently interviewed about a controversial bill that was passed in Connecticut. "Paying even modest attention to the bill’s definitions should make it clear beyond doubt that it will not be the source of protections based upon the age of people to whom one is attracted or with whom one has sex," Cruz said.

RECENT SCHOLARSHIP

Robin Craig
April, 2023

"Marine Biodiversity: Trends, Targets, and the BBNJ," Lewis and Clark School of Law 2023 Environmental Law Symposium: Protecting Biodiversity: Five Decades of Progress but an Uncertain Future, Portland, OR, April 7, 2023.

Jonathan Barnett
April, 2023

Comment Letter from Law Professors, Economists, and Business School Professors to the Federal Trade Commission on Proposed Non-Compete Clause Rule, Jonathan Barnett (co-lead author, with Adam Mossoff and Ted Sichelman), April 19, 2023.

Robin Craig
April, 2023

"Survival Equity and Climate Change Triage: How to Decide Who Lives and Who Dies," presentation as part of Adapting to a Warming World: Perspectives from the Environmental Law Collaborative, Hubbell Environmental Law Initiative, University of Iowa School of Law, Iowa City, IA, April 14, 2023.