Melissa S. Ader is a staff attorney in The Legal Aid Society’s Worker Justice Project, where she removes barriers to employment for New Yorkers with arrest and conviction records through the use of litigation, pre-litigation advocacy, advice to criminal defense attorneys, community education, and policy advocacy. Melissa joined The Legal Aid Society in 2015 as an Equal Justice Works Fellow, sponsored by AIG and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. She previously served as a law clerk for the Honorable Raymond J. Lohier, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Deborah A. Batts of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Melissa graduated from Harvard University and Yale Law School, from which she received the C. LaRue Munson Prize for excellence in clinical advocacy.