Albany Law School

B.S., University of Illinois
J.D., University of Michigan Law School

Professor Melissa L. Breger has been teaching at the law school level for 14 years, first at The University of Michigan Law School and then at Albany Law School since 2002. Prior to teaching, Professor Breger dedicated her career to children, women and families, with her formative years practicing in New York City in a number of capacities. 

She is the recipient of several teaching and service awards, both on a local level and on a national level, including the Shanara C. Gilbert Award in Recognition of Her Excellence in Teaching and Contributions to the Advancement of Social Justice from the American Association of Law Schools and the L. Hart Wright Excellence in Law Teaching Award from The University of Michigan Law School. Professor Breger also received the Albany County Family Court Children’s Center Award “In Recognition Of Her Outstanding And Tireless Work Assisting Children And Families In Need And For Her Dedication To Ensure That Law Students Obtain The Skills Necessary To Provide High Quality And Compassionate Legal Services To Family Court Litigants” in May 2008.

Professor Breger’s current courses include Evidence, Family Law, Criminal Procedure: Investigation (4th, 5th, 6th A), Gender & the Law, and Children & the Law. Professor Breger is the co-author of NEW YORK LAW OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, a two-volume treatise published by Reuters-Thomson-West, as well as the author of numerous law review articles regarding issues of family law, gender, and justice. Her scholarly interests include the rights of children and families, gender and racial equality, procedural justice in the courtroom, juvenile justice, the increasing epidemic of child trafficking, law and culture, and the intersections between psychology and the law.

NYS COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES OF CRIMINAL CHARGES (website)

• Website designed, Columbia Law School Clinic, NYC, Fall 2005

• Project launched, State of Judiciary Address, Albany, February 2006

• Next colloquium, State Judicial Institute, White Plains, June 2006

First Domestic Violence Law Seminar Taught in a United States Law School: The Legacy of Professor Katheryn D. Katz, Albany Law Review (forthcoming)(with Lynch)

The (In)Visibility of Gender and Motherhood in Family Court Proceedings, 36 NYU Review of Law & Social Change 555 (2012)

Co-author, Cumulative Supplement for NEW YORK LAW OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, 2nd ed. (Thomson Reuters) (with Judge Lee Elkins and Jane Fosbinder) (Fall 2008-continuing)

Against the Dilution of a Child's Voice in Court, 20 Indiana International and Comparative Law Review 175 (2010) 

Making Waves or Keeping the Calm?: Analyzing the Institutional Culture of Family Courts Through the Lens of Social Psychology Groupthink Theory, 34 Law & Psychol. Rev. 55 (2010)

Advancing the Future of Family Violence Law Pedagogy: The Founding of a Law School Clinic, 41 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 167 (2007) (with Theresa Hughes)

Co-author, NEW YORK LAW OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 2nd ed., (Thomson-West, 2007) (with Judge Lee Elkins and Jane Fosbinder)

Implementing a Jury Option in Family Violence Proceedings in FAMILY LAW: BALANCING INTERESTS AND PURSUING PRIORITIES 306 (Lynn D. Wardle & Camille S. Williams eds.) (2007)

Introducing the Construct of the Jury into Family Violence Proceedings and Family Court Jurisprudence,
13 Michigan Journal of Gender & Law 1 (2006)

Co-author, 2006 CUMULATIVE SUPPLEMENT to NEW YORK LAW OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (Thomson-West, 2006) (with Judge L. Elkins and J. Fosbinder)

Teaching Professionalism in Context: Insights from Students Clients, Adversaries and Judges,
55 South Carolina Law Review 304 (2003) (with Gina Calabrese and Theresa Hughes)

Building Pediatric Law Careers: The University of Michigan Law School Experience, (with S. Scarnecchia, F. Vandervort, and N. Woloshin),
34 Family Law Quarterly 531 (2000)

• Unity House
• NYS Crime Victims Board
• Equinox
• NYS Coalition Against *Domestic Violence
• OPDV
• GULP
• OCA forms (NYS)
• Nicholson Briefs & Webcast
• NYS Bar Association
• ABA Commission on Domestic Violence
• The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern NY
• The Legal Project
• YWCA Services to Families in Violence
• NACC
• Family Violence Prevention Fund
• The Department of Justice Violence Against Women
• National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence
• National Network to End Domestic Violence
• Listing of All State Domestic Violence Coalitions