Melissa Gardner
Partner, San Francisco Office
email
415 956-1000
vcard

Melissa Gardner

Melissa Gardner is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s San Francisco office. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Melissa 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 joining Lieff Cabraser, Melissa worked at Emery Celli Brinckherhoff & Abady and at South Brooklyn Legal Services, where she assisted with the Workers’ Rights and Government Benefits Unit.

Melissa served in the United States Peace Corps from 2005 to 2008, where she taught college students at Gansu Forestry College in Tianshui, China.

Long form bio (click to open pdf).

  • Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
    J.D. – 2011
    Law Journal: Harvard International Law Journal, Member
  • Western Washington University
    B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) – 2005

  • California, 2013
  • New York, 2013
  • U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 2016
  • U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2019
  • U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 2013

  • American Association for Justice
  • American Bar Association
  • Bar Association of San Francisco
  • California Women Lawyers, District Governor (2018-present)
  • Consumer Attorneys of California, Leadership Academy (2019)
  • Ms. JD, Board of Directors (2015-2018)
  • State Bar of California
  • State Bar of New York

  • Speaker, “Tricks are for Kids: The Dark Side of Children’s Gaming Apps,”  Harvard Plaintiffs’ Law Association (HPLA), March 2023
  • Speaker, “How the CCPA Relates to Other Existing Laws,” Bar Association of San Francisco Cybersecurity and Privacy Law Conference, November 2020
  • Co-Author, “Play Ball: Potential Private Rights of Action Emerging From the FIFA Corruption Scandal,” 11 Business Torts & RICO News 1, Summer 2015

  • “Ones to Watch,” Best Lawyers, 2021-2024
  • “Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation,” Lawdragon, 2023
  • “Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon, 2023
  • “Rising Star for Northern California,” Super Lawyers, 2017 – 2023