Melissa Prober

Melissa has more than 20 years of experience in law, media, government, and politics. Her legal expertise includes a broad range of areas, such as contract drafting and negotiation, employment advice, intellectual property, nonprofit Board governance and tax-exempt issues, data privacy, risk mitigation and crisis management, internal investigations, and general business advice.

Prior to establishing her own legal practice, Melissa was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at The Jed Foundation, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention and mental health awareness for teens and young adults, and General Counsel at C Street Street Advisory Group, a strategic consulting firm that she helped launch. Melissa also served as in-house counsel at the New York Genome Center, an academic research organization, and the Clinton Foundation. 

Before going in-house, Melissa was a litigator at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP where her practice focused on management-side employment law, white collar criminal defense, regulatory inquiries, internal investigations, and complex civil litigations. 

Prior to law school, Melissa handled public policy and programming at Oxygen Media at the time of its launch. Under her leadership, Oxygen received a Mark Award for Best Public, Community Relations & Event Marketing Program for Melissa’s work directing Oxygen’s Choose to Lead advocacy campaign aimed at increasing the number of women in elected positions.

Melissa’s career began in the West Wing of the Clinton White House where she served in the Counsel’s Office. She was part of the team who defended President Clinton during the House Impeachment and subsequent Senate Trial. 

Melissa attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and Brooklyn Law School, where she served as the Notes and Comments Editor for its Law Review. Melissa lives in DUMBO with her husband, Dana Hughes, and their two children.

Select Advisory, Philanthropic & Political Activities

Melissa was National Co-Chair of Women for Harris for Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign. She previously served as National Co-Chair of Women for Biden. She also served on the National Finance Committees of three Presidential candidates (Vice President Kamala Harris in 2019 and 2024; President Joe Biden in 2020 and 2024; and Secretary Hillary Clinton in 2016), as well as Ray McGuire for Mayor of New York City in 2021. She was Campaign Finance Chair for Brian Benjamin’s campaigns for Comptroller and re-election as Lt. Governor.

Melissa is a Senior Advisor for 2040 Strategy Group and is the co-founder of the DUMBO Action Committee.