About Melanie
Melanie Hammer began her legal journey in Brooklyn, entering law school at the end of the 1990s and earning her Juris Doctor in 2002. She studied at Brooklyn Law School, completing a three-year program that culminated in her degree in 2002. The academic grounding she received there set the stage for immediate entry into public service.
Her first position after law school placed her inside the Queens District Attorney's office as an assistant district lawyer in 2002. That role put her on the front lines of criminal prosecutions. She gained courtroom experience early, handling arraignments, negotiating pleas and presenting cases before judges. The pace and demands of the office sharpened her litigation instincts.
In 2005 she moved into private practice as an associate at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Dicker LLP. At the firm she worked on matters that required close attention to procedure and strategy. The position exposed her to the civil side of litigation as well as to complex case management in a large law firm setting. Colleagues recall her methodical approach to case preparation and a practical sense for assessing risk.
By 2007 Hammer established her own practice and began operating as a criminal defense lawyer in private practice. Running a small practice required combining legal work with the administrative tasks of business ownership. She handled client intake, case strategy and court appearances herself while managing the operations of her practice. Over time she developed a caseload made up largely of state-level criminal matters across New York.
Hammer maintains memberships in local professional organizations, including the Brooklyn Bar Association and the Westchester Bar Association. Those affiliations have kept her connected to developments in state law and to a network of lawyers across different practice areas.
Her professional trajectory moves from public prosecution to law firm practice and then to private criminal defense. That progression has given her a view of the criminal justice system from multiple vantage points. She is known among peers for steady courtroom presence and for practical legal counsel to clients facing criminal charges.
Today she practices in New York, where she represents clients in criminal defense matters. Her current practice concentrates on handling criminal cases in the state court system in New York.
