Melanie Gerber, the firm’s first public service counsel, advises clients on a broad range of legal issues; her practice includes not only pro bono advocacy and case management, but also recruiting, training and supervision of volunteer attorneys and paralegals; community outreach; and administration of the firm’s national public service program and award-winning education partnerships. Under her direction, the firm provides volunteer representation for hundreds of individuals and nonprofit organizations in Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Dallas, Denver and Anchorage. Ms. Gerber works with an active firm wide Pro Bono Committee to develop a dynamic, diverse pro bono program that includes a rich variety of cases in the areas of civil rights, community economic development, housing, family law, child welfare, international human rights, environmental and consumer issues, AIDS/HIV advocacy, immigration and political asylum, transactional and corporate projects, disability rights, landlord-tenant matters, veterans appeals, and legislative advocacy.

Ms. Gerber's public interest background includes a long association with Whitman-Walker Legal Services and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, for whom she has provided counsel and representation on insurance, discrimination, employee benefits, and public entitlements issues, advocating the rights of disabled and indigent clients. Previously, Ms. Gerber served as the executive director of the Legal Resource Center for Housing and Community Development (LRC), an organization dedicated to the creation of community partnerships between affordable housing providers (churches, shelters, tenant groups, nonprofit developers) and volunteer attorneys in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Under her leadership, the LRC facilitated the creation of tenant cooperatives, redevelopment projects and affordable housing construction in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. In addition to her housing advocacy work, Ms. Gerber developed and implemented the LRC's successful public education and volunteer training programs, recruiting and coordinating a team of over 100 volunteer attorneys from law firms, government agencies, and nonprofit groups in the Washington area.

Ms. Gerber began her legal career as a litigation associate in the Washington office of Morrison & Foerster, where her administrative and civil litigation practice involved labor and employment issues, unfair trade and patent law, representation of financial institutions in federal receivership, bankruptcy and regulatory proceedings, immigration matters, and a significant amount of pro bono work.

Ms. Gerber currently serves on Whitman-Walker’s Legal Services Operating Committee, the Law Firm Pro Bono Project Advisory Editorial Board, Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition Legal Advisory Board, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Firm Representative Outreach Committee, the Lawyers for Children America Regional Leadership Council and the DC Employment Justice Center Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Legal Service Providers Consortium.

Professional Affiliations:
DC Employment Justice Center Advisory Board
Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition Legal Advisory Board
Georgetown University Law Center, Volunteer Mentor
Law Firm Pro Bono Project Advisory Editorial Board
Lawyers for Children America Regional Leadership Council
Legal Services Providers Consortium
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Firm Representative Outreach Committee
Whitman-Walker Legal Services Operating Committee