Melissa L. Dougherty

As an Associate of the firm and a member of the Estates & Trusts Group, Melissa specializes in estate planning, estate and trust administration and gift, fiduciary and individual taxation.  Her planning experience includes the use of wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, charitable remainder trusts and grantor trusts.

Prior to receiving her law degree, she worked as a Summer Associate at Cohen & Grigsby.

Experience

• Legal Extern for the Honorable Nora Barry Fischer, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, PA, Summer - Fall 2008
• Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant for Teresa Kissane Brostoff, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 2008 - 2009

Additional Roles

• Allegheny County Bar Association
• Women’s Bar Association of Western Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• Estate Planning Council of Pittsburgh
• Mentor, Cohen & Grigsby Summer Associate Program

Representative Publications

• Author, “Recent Updates in Probate and Trust Law,” Pennsylvania Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Newsletter, Winter 2012

Languages

• Portuguese

Education

• J.D., cum laude, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 2010

                  ●   Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (Portuguese)

                  ●   David R. Bookstaver Award (excellence in areas of Estate Planning and Estates & Trusts)

                  ●   Executive Editor, Pittsburgh Tax Review

                  ●   Community Service Award

• B.A., magna cum laude, University of Pittsburgh, 2007

• Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil, 2006