Melissa Jane Lee
Principal- Location:
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Phone:
- 615-742-9372
- Fax:
- 615-242-4203
- Email:
- MLee@ManierHerod.com
Melissa Jane Lee is a principal with Manier & Herod practicing primarily in the areas of surety law, construction law, and general insurance coverage and litigation. In 2007, Ms. Lee graduated magna cum laude from the Clemson University Honors College at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. Ms. Lee received her Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2010. During law school, Ms. Lee concentrated on Advocacy & Dispute Resolution, which allowed her to participate in the law school’s Advocacy Clinic. Ms. Lee was the Managing Editor of Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law and Vice President of the Student Bar Association.
Ms. Lee is a construction surety lawyer and has represented numerous clients with respect to every aspect of surety law, including takeovers and relets, bond claim analysis, bankruptcy matters and litigation in various courts in the Southeast. Ms. Lee also represents clients in matters involving general construction law and miscellaneous surety bonds. Ms. Lee has the unique perspective of being both a litigator and a transactional attorney, having both courtroom and arbitration experience and having represented clients in large scale workouts. Additionally, Ms. Lee assists insurers with preliminary coverage analysis and coverage dispute litigation involving a variety of insurance policies, from commercial general liability policies to fidelity bonds.
Ms. Lee is a member of the American Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, Nashville Bar Association and is active in the Surety and Fidelity Law Committee of the Torts, Trial & Insurance Practice Section of the ABA. Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and is currently Vice-Chair of FSLC’s Construction Law Subdivision. Ms. Lee is a graduate of the TIPS Leadership Academy and has been recognized as a “Rising Star” in the area of insurance coverage by Mid-South Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters business, since 2013.
Practice Areas
Bar Admissions
- Tennessee Supreme Court
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Education
- University of Tennessee College of Law
- J.D., summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, 2010
- Clemson University
- B.S., magna cum laude, Clemson University Honors College, 2007
Honors & Awards
- Listed in Thompson Reuters’ Super Lawyers, Rising Stars, 2013 – 2022
- American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section Leadership Academy, 2018 – 2019
Published Works
- Author – Don’t Pay the Price: Protect the Penal Sum (Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Spring 2019 Newsletter)
- Co-Author – Chapter 4 (Deciding to Litigate: The Surety’s Recourse Against Third Parties), Managing and Litigating the Complex Surety Case (Tracey L. Haley and Christopher R. Ward, eds. American Bar Association 3rd ed. 2018)
- Author – Surety Bonding Across Borders: Basic Considerations for International Claims (Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Spring 2017 Newsletter)
- Author – Handling Surety Claims in a Global Economy: The Practical and Legal Considerations of Setting up a Claims Operation and Global Concerns from the Claims Perspective (ABA TIPS Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Mid-Winter Meeting 2017)
- Author – Underwriters Beware: Signs of Risk – Preventing Construction Claims & Maximizing Loss Recovery (Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference 2016)
- Author – Objections to Discharge: A Post-Bullock Analysis (Surety Claims Institute May 2015 Newsletter)
- Author – Types of Bonds: The Surety’s Performance Rights & Obligations (Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference 2014)
- Co-Author – Garnishments, NASHVILLE BAR J. (Nov. 2009)
- Defined Contribution Benefit Plan Participants are Entitled to Bring Individual Claims under ERISA § 502(a)(2), 10 TENN. J. BUS. L. 113 (Fall 2008)
Classes/Seminars
- Speaker, 2023 Surety Claims Institute Annual Conference (Cambridge, MD)
- Co-Chair, Construction Program, 2022 American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Midwinter Meeting (Nashville, TN)
- Speaker, 2022 Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference (Clearwater Beach, FL)
- Speaker, 2020 American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Mid-Winter Meeting (New York, NY)
- Co-Chair, 2019 Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference (New Orleans, LA)
- Speaker, 2018 American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Spring Meeting (Santa Fe, NM)
- Speaker, Atlanta Surety Claims Association May 2017 Meeting (Atlanta, GA)
- Speaker, 2017 Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference (Nashville, TN)
- Panel Moderator, 2017 American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Mid-Winter Meeting (New Orleans, LA)
- Speaker, 2016 Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference (Charleston, SC)
- Speaker, 2016 American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section, Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Mid-Winter Meeting (New York, NY)
- Speaker, 2015 Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference (Clearwater Beach, FL)
- Speaker, 2014 Southern Surety and Fidelity Claims Conference (New Orleans, LA)
Professional Associations & Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section
- Fidelity & Surety Law Committee
- Tennessee Bar Association
- Nashville Bar Association
- Young Lawyers Division
- Defense Research Institute
- Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel