Melissa Hanson is a Clinical Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law. She teaches Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing as well as several upper-level courses, including Negotiation for Lawyers, Judicial Writing, Pretrial Litigation, and Writing for Federal Litigation. She also co-teaches Duke’s Summer Institute on Law, Language, and Culture. Prior to joining the Duke faculty, she taught Legal Writing, Federal Courts, Employment Law, and Employment Discrimination at Florida State University’s College of Law. While at FSU, Hanson also taught in the summer study abroad program at Oxford University and was awarded the university-wide Graduate Teaching Award.
Prior to teaching, Hanson spent eleven years as a career law clerk to two federal judges in the Middle District of Florida: the Honorable Monte C. Richardson, U.S. Magistrate Judge, and the Honorable Brian J. Davis, U.S. District Judge. She began her career in private practice at Foley & Lardner, specializing in labor and employment litigation.
Hanson graduated second in her class from the University of Florida College of Law, where she served on the Law Review and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. She received her bachelor of science from the University of California, Berkeley.
