Melissa worked as a field botanist in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains before attending law school with an interest in environmental law. She graduated with a law degree and a Masters in Environmental Studies, and then clerked for a year with the Montana Supreme Court. She spent the first five years of her legal career working for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation on state, tribal, and federal water rights negotiations. She then spent three years with the U.S. Department of Justice litigating environmental and other civil litigation matters. She recently transitioned from public service to public interest law with the Western Environmental Law Center, where she focuses on climate change and energy litigation.
She lives in Helena, Montana, with her husband, daughter, and dog, and enjoys adventuring on the trails out her back door and the mountains around Montana when not working.
