Melissa Vaughn is a partner of the St. Louis office of Lewis Brisbois, and Vice Chair of the National General Liability Practice. Her membership areas range from the Healthcare, General Liability, Toxic Tort & Environmental Litigation, and Behavioral Health Practices. 

Ms. Vaughn devotes a significant amount of her practice to the defense of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare and long-term professionals and organizations in claims involving professional negligence and elder abuse.

Ms. Vaughn also has extensive experience representing various commercial entities, including product manufacturers, transportation companies, and construction contractors in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, product liability, and premises liability actions; as well as in toxic tort and environmental litigation.

In addition, she represents insurers and insureds in first and third-party insurance coverage disputes, breach of contract, and bad-faith litigation.

Ms. Vaughn defends clients in federal and state courts in Missouri, Illinois, and several other jurisdictions across the country. She manages all phases of litigation, including pre-suit investigation, written discovery, fact and expert witness depositions, vigorous motion practice, mediation, arbitration, and trial. She also successfully negotiates pre-suit and pre-trial settlements and dismissals on behalf of her clients.

Admissions

• State Bar Admissions
  • Illinois
  • Missouri
• United States District Courts
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri
  • United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri

Admissions

Missouri

Illinois

United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

Associations

• Illinois Bar Association
• American Bar Association

Awards & Honors

• Selected for inclusion in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Illinois Super Lawyers® list of "Rising Stars," a peer review designation published by Thomson Reuters.
• Selected for inclusion in the 2013 Illinois Super Lawyers® "Top Women Attorneys in Illinois" list.

Education

The John Marshall Law School - Chicago, IL

Juris Doctor, 2007

University of Dayton - Dayton, OH

Bachelor of Arts, 2003