The Western New York Chapter of the
Women's Bar Association of the State of New York

Melissa Hancock Nickson

Supreme Court Chambers
25 Delaware Avenue, 5th Floor
Buffalo, NY 14202

Melissa Hancock Nickson, Past Chapter President, is the Confidential Law Clerk to New York State Supreme Court Justice John M. Curran. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science, Cum Laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1994, and her law degree from the University at Buffalo Law School in 1997. At the statewide level, Melissa has served as the co-chair for the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Committee. At the local level, she has served as President, State Director, Local Director, programs chair and CLE liaison. While in law school, Melissa was the President of the Buffalo Moot Court Board and was inducted into the National Order of the Barristers. After beginning her practice, she coached the Orchard Park High School Mock Trial team and was active with the Federal Practice Committee of the Bar Association of Erie County. Melissa also devotes time to Shea’s Performing Arts Center, most recently serving as chair of the Rising Stars 2002 Martini Gras, and mentors law students through UB Law School’s Mentoring Program. She is a member of the 2004 charter class of Leadership Buffalo’s Rising Leaders, a 1999 graduate of the YWCA Institute for Public Leadership and a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the Western New York Trial Lawyers Association and the Women Lawyers of Western New York. Most recently, Melissa was named one of Business First's Forty Under Forty.  Prior to becoming a Law Clerk, Melissa was an associate at Phillips Lytle LLP, where she concentrated her practice primarily in the areas of commercial and general civil litigation before State and Federal Courts, with an emphasis on business matters, non-compete agreements and unfair competition.

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