Melissa Weberman is the head of the firm’s eDiscovery & Data Analytics (“eData”) group. She focuses on counseling clients in eDiscovery and data analytics processes and best practices. Ms. Weberman works closely with Arnold & Porter’s lawyers across practice groups to tailor strategies and discovery management plans for clients in numerous industries. Ms. Weberman advises clients on defensible approaches to the preservation, collection, search, and analysis of information and data, and is experienced with technology-assisted review and other methods to enable clients to significantly reduce costs while maintaining defensibility. She also counsels clients on information governance and records management issues.
Ms. Weberman also litigates a range of matters—she has managed all aspects of litigation from drafting pleadings to serving as first chair at trial, including managing fact and expert discovery, drafting and arguing motions, presenting evidence at trial and evidentiary hearings, and negotiating settlements. In addition, she represents companies in government and internal investigations, helping clients prioritize investigative goals, respond to government subpoenas and requests, interview company executives and employees, report progress to government agencies and the client, advise clients on the implementation of remediation steps and compliance recommendations, and draft investigative and audit reports.
Ms. Weberman maintains an active pro bono practice where she focuses on housing and discrimination issues. She serves on the Board of Directors of the DC Bar Foundation, the leading funder of civil legal aid in DC, and on the Board of Directors of the Washington Council of Lawyers, the public-interest bar association for DC. She is also a member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Weberman was a law clerk to the Honorable Charles R. Wilson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. She was also an associate in the New York office of another international law firm.
Ms. Weberman graduated with honors from Emory University School of Law, where she served as Managing Editor for the law review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. She was also a Dean's Teaching Fellow.
Experience
- Represented a telecommunications company in the successful regulatory approvals of multiple mergers and acquisitions. In that role, Ms. Weberman managed hundreds of attorneys at five different law firms and up to 500 contract attorneys at a time in their work on complicated review workflows, successfully managing productions of millions of documents and hundreds of thousands of privilege log entries.
- Represented an aircraft manufacturer in collecting and producing French documents, designing specialized procedures to adhere to European and French data privacy laws.
- Represented a pharmaceutical company as national eDiscovery counsel in its productions of documents and privilege logs in opioids cases in federal and state courts.
Perspectives
Recognition
Credentials
Education
- J.D., Emory University School of Law, 2008, with honors
- B.A., University of Virginia, 2003, with distinction
Admissions
- District of Columbia
- New York
Clerkships
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, The Honorable Charles R. Wilson
Activities
- Co-Chair, DC Bar eDiscovery and Information Governance Committee (2024 - present)
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DC Bar Foundation
Member (2022–present), Board of Directors
Member (2021–2022), Advisory Committee
Co-Chair (2020–2021), Member (2017–2019), Young Lawyers Network Leadership Council - Board Member, Washington Council of Lawyers (2019–present)
- Member, Pro Bono Committee, Arnold & Porter (2020–present)
- Member, Privilege Committee, Arnold & Porter (2019–present)
- Member, Women in eDiscovery (2020–present)