Melanie Proctor

Senior Employment Attorney

Melanie Proctor, Senior Employment Attorney at Ottinger Employment Lawyers, has two decades of litigation experience. 

While working as an Assistant Chief Counsel at California’s statutorily independent civil rights agency, she worked on high-profile, complex litigation. In addition, she supervised a team of junior attorneys as they investigated, mediated, and litigated a variety of other cases. Representative matters include:

  • Litigation on behalf of a class of about 2,000 female employees and contractors who experienced systemic discrimination and sexual harassment at a video game company ($118 million consent decree);
  • Litigation on behalf of a female farmworker who was sexually assaulted by a supervisor ($750,000 settlement); and
  • Litigation on behalf of a female intern who was sexually assaulted by a co-founder at a venture capital partnership ($1.8 million settlement).

Melanie started her legal career in the U.S. Department of Justice, through the Honors Program. After two years as an attorney advisor at the Immigration Court in San Francisco, she worked as a civil Assistant U.S. Attorney, first in the Southern District of California and then in the Northern District of California. In that capacity, Melanie litigated a broad range of civil cases, defending and prosecuting cases on behalf of the United States and its agencies. Representative cases include investigation of alleged violations of the False Claims Act, civil rights issues, challenges to Freedom of Information Act decisions, employment discrimination, and a variety of administrative law matters. 

She also served as the coordinator for civil rights cases in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the N.D. California, coordinating with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure civil rights matters were staffed and investigated in the district. Melanie’s civil rights work on behalf of the United States included litigation and settlement of a landmark consent decree that resolved allegations the Law School Admissions Council engaged in widespread and systemic discrimination against test takers with disabilities.

Melanie received her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis Martin Luther King, Jr. School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts (English) degree from Westmont College.

She is also a professional genealogist.

Honors:

Certificate of Commendation, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice · Dec 2017

Certificate of Commendation, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice · Nov 2014 

Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Exceptional Public Service · May 2000 

Jurisdictions Admitted to Practice:

California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California