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Melissa Cason serves as the Faculty Law Fellow in the W.W. Caruth, Jr. Child Advocacy Clinic where she trains law students on legal issues surrounding child welfare and child advocacy. Melissa represents children in foster care during their legal cases, ensuring that the legal objectives of the clinic’s young clients are met. For youth in the community and within the state who grew up in and aged out of foster care after being removed from their families of origin, Melissa’s work at ºÚÁÏÀÏ˾»ústrives to improve their safety, stability, and success as they transition from childhood to independent adulthood.

Prior to joining SMU, Melissa was an attorney at CitySquare LAW Center, where she focused on keeping children out of foster care before they entered the system by representing safe and stable family members. Before that, Melissa represented parents and children navigating the foster care system after the child’s removal from the family. Melissa got her start in private practice family law.

Melissa received her J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where she gained valuable experience as a clinic student herself, and her B.A. from University of Florida, where she graduated summa cum laude.