Melissa L. Desgrottes is a senior attorney at Neil Weinrib & Associates, and holds a juris doctor from Rutgers Law School in Newark, New Jersey. She is admitted to the New York Bar. Prior to joining the NawLaw team, Melissa handled family and removal defense cases at a fast-paced law firm in New York City. She also supervised junior attorneys and represented individuals in detained removal proceedings as a supervising attorney in the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) at The Bronx Defenders. Previously, Melissa was a staff attorney at Sanctuary for Families in the Immigration Intervention Project, where she represented immigrant survivors of gender violence. Melissa’s legal career is rooted in removal defense, with a focus on clients who have had prior contact with the criminal justice system. She holds a B.A. from Boston College and is fluent in French and Haitian Creole.