A trusted advisor to multinational companies, private equity sponsors, investment funds, lenders and other market participants, Melissa is particularly recognized for helping clients identify, assess and mitigate regulatory risks that can affect transaction execution and long-term business objectives.
Serves as the regulatory group’s transactional practices lead assisting clients in navigating the increasingly complex intersection of regulatory issues and transactional issues.
Brings more than three decades of experience counseling clients on complex transactions around the world, including with respect to regulatory risks that can affect deal execution, value creation and investment strategies.

Melissa is a partner in Akin’s regulatory group and serves as the transactional practices lead, focused on helping clients achieve their business and investment objectives by providing integrated regulatory and transactional advice. In this role, she works across the firm’s transactional and regulatory practices to identify emerging client needs, develop innovative solutions and strengthen the firm’s market-leading regulatory and transactional capabilities.

With a leading-edge practice, Melissa works at the intersection of regulatory risk and business transactions. She works hand-in-hand with Akin’s deal lawyers in delivering coordinated advice and across-the-board transactional guidance during every stage of the investment lifecycle and beyond.

A highly regarded international transactional lawyer, Melissa has more than three decades of experience advising clients on complex, multijurisdictional transactions involving geopolitical risk and other regulatory considerations. Melissa serves as a strategic advisor to private & public companies and asset managers & their portfolio companies navigating evolving regulatory frameworks. She provides bespoke advice tailored to the issues unique to each client’s business and global operations. Melissa helps clients see around corners by analyzing the application of regulatory risks to transactional matters.

She has extensive experience counseling clients in connection with mergers & acquisitions (M&A), financings, joint ventures (JVs), strategic investments and other transformative transactions. Those deals span a broad range of jurisdictions and industries, including investment management & private equity, energy & infrastructure and technology. Melissa has advised on numerous transactions involving investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers & digital infrastructure.

Melissa is particularly recognized for helping clients identify, assess and mitigate regulatory risks that can impact transaction execution, financing arrangements, investment strategies and long-term business objectives. Her experience spans cross-border M&A, private equity investments, fund matters, financings and strategic commercial arrangements, where regulatory considerations increasingly play a critical role in successful outcomes.

Melissa has held numerous leadership positions within the firm. She currently serves on Akin’s firmwide Management Committee and Regulatory Practice Steering Committee and previously served as the firm’s Professional Development Partner. Melissa has received the highest industry honors for her inspirational leadership and mentorship of the next generation. Her accolades include The American Lawyer’s Best Mentor: Law Firm Finalist Award and Corporate Counsel’s Women, Influence & Power in Law: Best Mentor Award, among others.

Representative Work

Advised numerous multinational companies on their divestments from Russia since 2022.
Advised lenders as well as borrowers on sanctions and international trade issues in connection with financings.
Advised companies and investors on sanctions and international trade risks, and mitigation thereof, in connection with M&A transactions, joint ventures as well as debt and equity offerings.
Advised numerous hedge, private equity and other funds with respect to the impact of Russian, Venezuelan and other sanctions programs on both investors as well as portfolio investments.
Advised multinational companies with global footprints on U.S. sanctions and trade compliance issues, particularly in light of Russian counter-measures to sanctions.

Advised Roswell Park Cancer Research Institute on its historic U.S.-Cuban joint venture focused on cancer research with the aim of bringing a lung cancer vaccine to Roswell Park and the United States for clinical testing and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspection.
Advised a Securities and Exchange (SEC)-registered issuer on its voluntary self-disclosure to the Office of Foreign Assets Control regarding sanctions violations, including advising on its public disclosure and negotiations with lenders.

Education
J.D., Harvard Law School, cum laude, 1991
B.A., Cornell University, with distinction, 1988

Bar Admissions
District of Columbia
New York

Recognitions

The American Lawyer Industry Awards, Best Mentor: Law Firm, Finalist, 2024.
Corporate Counsel, Women, Influence & Power in Law: Best Mentor, 2022.
Diversity Journal, Women Worth Watching in Leadership, 2022.

Affiliations and Public Service

President, Washington Hebrew Congregation, 2016-present
Member, Leadership Team, Washington Hunger Project, 2012-present
Board of Trustees, Washington International School, 2018-2021
Board Member and Secretary, The Global Fund for Children, 2016-2019
Founding Board Member and Secretary, Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center, 2013-2016

Speeches and Publications

“Regulatory Update: Amendments to US Executive Order (E.O) 13959,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch Webinar (June 11, 2021).
“Cross-Border M&A: The U.S. Government Has a Seat at the Table,” Houston Bar Association M&A Section Meeting (Houston, TX, November 21, 2019).
“Closing the Deal: Practical Insights and Legal Considerations in Cross-Border Transactions,” The Association of Corporate Counsel National Capital Region Meeting (Washington, D.C., February 26, 2019).
“Sanctions: Vigilance in an Increasingly Complex Global Environment,” Akin Energy Symposium (La Jolla, CA, October 12, 2018).
“Issues to Consider in the Sanctions Era,” Akin Energy Symposium (La Jolla, CA, September 9, 2016).
“Issues to Consider in the Sanctions Era,” The Global Energy Industry: 2016 Mid-Year Energy Briefing (Houston, TX, July 14, 2016).