Melissa H. Nafash is a Partner in Milberg’s New York office and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Mass Arbitration Practice. She has represented over one million clients in matters regarding data breaches, misuse of personal data, cryptocurrency, consumer finance, and personal banking litigation.

Highly regarded in her practice, The National Law Journal‘s “Elite Trial Lawyers” recognized Ms. Nafash as a “Rising Star of the Plaintiffs Bar,” Lawdragon recognized her as a “Next Generation Lawyer,” The Best Lawyers in America® named her among the “Ones to Watch” in the Class Actions – Plaintiffs category, and Women in Business Law selected her as a finalist for its “Arbitration Rising Star” award.

Ms. Nafash has also received the National Trial Lawyers’ “Top 40 Under 40” award, the “New York Metro Area Outstanding Young Lawyer” award, and the “New York Metro Area Top Young Women Attorneys” award.

Prior to joining Milberg, she was a Partner at Labaton Keller Sucharow where she developed the firm’s groundbreaking ADR Practice in response to the use of mandatory arbitration clauses by companies in consumer contracts. There, her practice achieved over $200 million in recoveries for over 400,000 clients in some of the largest consumer mass arbitration matters in recent history.

For more than a decade before changing her practice space to focus on mass arbitration, she was a pharmaceutical and medical device mass torts litigator, helping those who were physically injured by defective pharmaceutical drugs or medical devices. She was appointed to the plaintiffs’ steering committee in In Re: Davol/C.R. Bard Hernia Mesh Multi-Case Management and assisted in leading the litigation for more than 30,000 plaintiffs. In addition, she managed several other litigations from onset through settlement.

Ms. Nafash received her J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law at Bristol, Rhode Island and her B.A. in Political Science at the University of Connecticut.

She is admitted to practice in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, numerous U.S. District Courts across the country, as well as the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.