Profile

Melissa Berry

Perkins Coie LLP - Seattle WA

Contact Details

Perkins Coie LLP - Seattle WA

Bio

Melissa Berry returned to Perkins Coie as Director of Attorney Development in February 2023. Now leading the firm’s lawyer professional development strategies and performance evaluation processes, Melissa started her legal career as a judicial clerk and an associate at Latham & Watkins in Washington, DC and at Perkins in Seattle. Melissa then turned her focus to legal education and law student development as a faculty member and law school leader for 14 years, most recently serving as the Assistant Dean for Student and Career Services and Affiliate Instructor at the University of Washington School of Law. Seeking to support lawyers throughout their careers, Melissa shifted back to law firms in 2019 as Director of Professional Development and Diversity at Lane Powell PC in Seattle where she provided strategic direction for the firm’s attorney professional development and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts.

Melissa is active in NALP and currently serves on the Neurodiversity in the Legal Profession Task Force and has served in various leadership roles including Co-Vice Chair of the Lawyer Professional Development Section’s Professional Formation Work Group and the Holloran Center’s Leadership Competency Working Group. She also is a member the Institute for Well-Being in Law's DEI Committee.

Melissa holds a JD, cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law and BA, cum laude, from Tulane University.