Melissa Gardner is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s San Francisco office with a practice focused on digital privacy and consumer protection complex litigation.

A pioneering advocate for personal rights and dignity in every domain, Melissa has been a key player in precedent-setting class actions that have put an end to numerous invasive and misleading corporate business practices, and recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for consumers. Her past and current work includes litigation challenging website tracking technology, mobile device tracking and data sharing software, deceptive design in financial technology apps and software, misuse of identities in online advertising, invasions of email, online messaging, and other electronic communications privacy, platforms that facilitate identity theft and fraud, deficient cybersecurity practices, and other violations of consumer rights, including a recent class action settlement, on the eve of trial, of medical battery claims on behalf of purchasers of allegedly experimental and unreliable medical testing.

Melissa was named a Rising Star for Northern California for seven consecutive years by Super Lawyers, selected for Best Lawyers’ Ones to Watch 2021 inaugural edition and each year since, named to the first edition of Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation, and named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers in America each year since 2023.

Melissa received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she was a semi-finalist in the Harvard Ames Moot Court Competition, as well as a Student Attorney with the Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project and South Brooklyn Legal Services. Prior to attending law school, Melissa worked for the Skagit County Community Action agency in Washington State and served for three years with the United States Peace Corps in Tianshui, China.

Long form bio (click to open pdf).