ProfessionalsMelissa F. Zappala
Tel: +1-202-223-7458
Fax: +1-202-379-4112
mzappala@paulweiss.com
mzappala@paulweiss.com
Melissa is a partner in the Litigation Department. Melissa focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation, including antitrust, class actions, and business tort disputes, as well as conducting internal investigations. Over the last fifteen years, she has been involved a number of high profile matters, including high stakes trial teams involving major technology companies. For example, she represented Uber in Waymo v. Uber, which was a hotly contested trade secrets case regarding the future of self-driving cars, as well as in Malden v. Uber, where she was part of the team that secured a complete victory on behalf of Uber against plaintiffs asserting unfair competition claims and seeking over $750 million in damages. She has also represented many other financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies over the course of her career, including one in a month-long trial in California state court involving alleged contractual breaches.
Melissa is also committed to pro bono work. She has taken on a number of pro bono cases involving disability rights and housing issues, and she previously served on the boards of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Gaylaw.
She was recognized by the National Law Journal in 2015 as one of the DC area’s top 40 lawyers under 40, and has been featured in articles published in the ABA Journal and the American Lawyer.