About Melissa
Melissa Larsen has worked in courtrooms, state offices and private practice over a career that spans more than two decades. She earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island in 1991 and a J.D. from Western New England University School of Law in 1995. Those academic years led into a varied legal and public service trajectory.
Early in her professional life she moved into the financial sector as a fiduciary officer and relationship manager at Fleet Boston Financial in 1998. That role preceded a return to public service. In 2003 she joined the Rhode Island Department of Lawyer General as Special Assistant Lawyer General, handling matters on behalf of the office.
In 2011 she opened the Law Office of Melissa Larsen, Esq., marking the start of her private practice. Six years later she took the bench in her hometown when she became a Municipal Court Judge for the City of Cranston in 2017. On the bench she presides over municipal matters and handles daily docket responsibilities common to local courts.
Larsen is admitted in Rhode Island and to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Her professional affiliations underscore a long engagement with criminal law and court administration. She has chaired the Criminal Law Bench Bar Committee since 2011 and is a member of the Rhode Island Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the RIAG Criminal Division Alumni Association. She has served on the Local Rule Committee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, including its Criminal Law sub-committee, since 2018, and she joined the district court’s Access to Justice Committee in 2020. She is also a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association Family Law Committee.
Colleagues and court users encounter Larsen in multiple roles. She balances case work in private practice with responsibilities on the municipal bench. Her calendar reflects both courtroom appearances and committee meetings that shape local practice rules and access initiatives.
Her practice combines criminal defense, family law matters and municipal court representation. She continues to operate her private law office while serving as a municipal judge in Cranston, handling matters across those areas of practice.
