Melissa Jane Lee
Principal- Location:
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Phone:
- 615-742-9372
- Fax:
- 629-500-1137
- 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 throughout the United States. 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 currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Fidelity and Surety Law Committee. 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
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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 (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 (Tracy L. Haley and Christopher R. Ward, eds. American Bar Association 3rd ed. 2018)
Author, Surety Bonding Across Borders: Basic Considerations for International Claims (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 (Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Mid-Winter Meeting 2017)
Author, Underwriters Beware: Signs of Risk – Preventing Construction Claims & Maximizing Loss Recovery (Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference 2016)
Author, Objections to Discharge: A Post-Bullock Analysis (Surety Claims Institute May 2015 Newsletter)
Speaker, 2015 Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference (Clearwater Beach, FL)
Author, Objections to Discharge: Surety Rights in Bankruptcy (Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference 2015).
Author, Types of Bonds: The Surety’s Performance Rights & Obligations (Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference 2014)
Co-Author, Garnishments, NASHVILLE BAR J. (Nov. 2009)
Author, 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
Co-Chair, 2026 Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Spring Meeting (Sedona, Arizona) (forthcoming)
Speaker, 2026 Construction Program, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Midwinter Meeting (Washington, D.C.) (forthcoming)
Speaker, 2024 Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Spring Meeting (La Jolla, CA)
Speaker, Virtual Seminar for the National Association of Surety Bond Producers, August 2023
Speaker, 2023 Surety Claims Institute Annual Conference (Cambridge, MD)
Moderator, 2023 Construction Program, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Midwinter Meeting (Washington, D.C.)
Co-Chair, 2022 Construction Program, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Midwinter Meeting (Nashville, Tennessee)
Speaker, 2022 Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference (Clearwater Beach, FL)
Speaker, 2020 Construction Program, Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Midwinter Meeting (New York, NY)
Co-Chair, 2019 Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference (New Orleans, LA)
Speaker, 2018 Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Spring Meeting (Santa Fe, NM)
Speaker, Atlanta Surety Claims Association May 2017 Meeting (Atlanta, Georgia)
Speaker, 2017 Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference (Nashville, TN)
Moderator, 2017 Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Mid-Winter Meeting (New Orleans, LA)
Speaker, 2016 Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference (Charleston, SC)
Speaker, 2016 Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Mid-Winter Meeting (New York, NY)
Speaker, 2015 Southern Surety & Fidelity Claims Conference (Clearwater Beach, FL)
Speaker, 2014 Southern Surety & 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, past
- Tennessee Association of Construction Counsel