Melanie Ronen

Melanie Ronen is a shareholder with Keesal, Young & Logan.  Her practice focuses on employment, securities, and mortgage banking matters.

Melanie regularly represents employers in judicial, arbitration, and administrative proceedings involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, wage and hour, breach of contract, defamation, unfair competition, and trade secret and raiding claims.  She also provides advice to employers on a wide range of topics, including disability and protected leaves, employee privacy, wage and hour considerations, and retaliation and whistleblower concerns, as well as other hiring, promotion, demotion, and termination issues.  In addition, Melanie assists employers with drafting and review of employment manuals and various agreements, and she conducts workplace investigations and provides employee training on discrimination and harassment issues.

Melanie defends financial services firms and individual securities brokers in matters involving claims for suitability, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, negligence, breach of contract, failure to execute, churning, unauthorized trading, selling away, failure to supervise, and violation of federal and state securities laws before securities arbitration forums, such as FINRA, as well as in state and federal court.

Melanie also represents the firm’s mortgage banking clients in connection with litigation matters.  She acts as counsel with respect to a wide variety of origination and servicing claims, including the defense of wrongful foreclosure and fraud claims, claims involving promised or failed loan modifications, unfair business practices, consumer protection, lien priority disputes, and misapplication of payment allegations.

Melanie handles appellate briefing and has argued before the California Courts of Appeal.  She also assists corporate clients with trademark prosecution and protection.

Melanie received her B.A. degree in political science from Seattle University in 1994.  She received her J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2002 and was named to the Order of Barristers.  While in law school, Melanie was a member of the Moot Court Board and represented the University of San Diego in the Giles Rich Intellectual Property Moot Court competition.  She was recognized by Law & Politics Magazine as one of Southern California’s “Rising Stars” in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.  Melanie is a member of the State Bars of Washington and California.  She is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and all of the United State District Courts in California.

Melanie has served on the Board of Trustees for the Long Beach Ronald McDonald House since 2014.

Practice Areas

• Employment
• Securities
• Mortgage Banking Litigation