Melanie Roberts (she/her) is the Training Director for the YAD practice area. For 10 years prior to becoming Training Director, she worked as a staff Trial Attorney, representing youth in both delinquency and youthful offender proceedings.
She discovered her love of working with young clients as a third-year law student representing clients in Boston Juvenile Court, as a student attorney in Suffolk Law School’s Juvenile Defense Clinic. Melanie is a member of YAD’s Juvenile Defenders Dismantling Racism steering committee and co-chair of the Racial Justice Toolkit subcommittee. Melanie is committed to cross practice area training as a member of the Racial Equity Training Team, Holistic Defense Working Group, Trial Skills Task Force and chair of the Defending Emerging Adults Training Team. She is also Co-Director of the New England Region Gault Center.