Biography

Melissa M. Rich, Esq., is a Junior Partner with the firm’s Boston, Massachusetts office, exclusively handing Connecticut cases. She has over 25 years of trial litigation experience in insurance defense, handling both commercial and personal lines.

Melissa has tried approximately 15 cases to jury verdict, achieving several defense verdicts, including a verdict in favor of her client on her very first case! Melissa’s trial results also include many verdicts at or below the last settlement offer extended to opposing counsel. Melissa has achieved defense verdicts in the binding arbitration and small claims forums as well! She has won summary judgment motions on behalf of her clients.

Melissa has formed a very good relationship with the Plaintiff’s bar in Connecticut over the years and has had several cases where claims were voluntarily withdrawn by opposing counsel, saving her client and its carriers valuable time and resources. She has resolved hundreds of cases through direct negotiation and mediation, both private and judicial.

Melissa focuses her practice on auto and fleet liability, general liability, premises liability, product liability and construction defect matters. Melissa has almost exclusively worked in the insurance defense field for her entire career. She started her practice with two small panel counsel firms, representing the insureds of multiple carriers. She later joined the staff legal office for an international insurance company where she served as captive counsel to that insurer for 17 years. She then transitioned back to private practice working with a Boston insurance defense firm handling their Connecticut cases.

Melissa is an Ivy League graduate, receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College graduating magna cum laude in 1997. Melissa had an ambitious and successful career at Dartmouth, where she pursued a double major in Government and Russian Language. She took her Government studies a step further and wrote a thesis that earned her specialized honors in Government. She received the Jeffrey L. Pressman Prize and was a Recipient of the Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship, both for her excellence in Government studies. Her thesis was a catalyst for a political science article she cowrote with her Professor Richard F. Winters, currently Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth College, entitled “Governor Quits!” The Strategic Personal and Political Economy of Foregoing Reelection.” This work is cited in Professor Winters’ current book, “Taxing the State, the Politics of Changing Taxes in the American States” Copyright 2026! During her undergrad work, Melissa also studied abroad for a semester at St. Petersburg University in Russia.

After graduation from Dartmouth, Melissa attended Quinnipiac College School of Law, under an Academic Performance Scholarship. She also was the recipient of a Superior Classroom Performance award. She participated in Quinnipiac’s judicial externship program, working with a Federal Magistrate Judge.

Melissa obtained her Juris Doctor in 2000 and was admitted to the Connecticut State Bar the same year. She was also admitted to the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (2001).

Practice Areas

Practice Areas

• Auto & Fleet Liability
• Construction Defect
• Federal Practice
• General and Retail Liability
• Premises Liability
• Product Liability

Experience

Awards & Honors

• Law School Academic Performance Scholarship received for 3 years
• Law School Award for Superior Classroom Performance
• Jeffrey L. Pressman Prize for Government
• Recipient of Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship for Government
• Citations for Excellence in State Politics and in Russian Literature

Bar/Court Admission

• 2000, Connecticut
• 2001, United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

Education

• Quinnipiac College School of Law, J.D., 2000
• Dartmouth College, B.A., magna cum laude, 1997

Industries Represented

Verdicts

Verdicts

Presentations

Presentations and Speaking Engagements

Publications

Articles