Melissa Will is the Training Coordinator for LASCO and she is based in our Columbus office. She joined LASCO (previously SEOLS) in 2008 as a staff attorney in the Newark office where she handled a wide-variety of civil cases with a focus on housing and public benefits issues. Then as the pro bono coordinator, Melissa oversaw LASCO's brief service and brief advice clinics, where low-income clients can provide information and advice from pro bono attorneys. She was responsible for recruiting, mentoring, and training volunteer attorneys to provide high quality services that expand the reach of LASCO's legal services.

Melissa has a long-lasting dedication to preventing and ending homelessness. After college, she worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA at a daytime homeless shelter in Dayton. The experience was life-changing for Melissa. At the daytime shelter, she would often spend time with the homeless men and women discussing where they could safely sleep outside that night because the overnight shelter was full. After her AmeriCorps VISTA experience, she decided that she wanted to dedicate her career to finding ways to prevent and end homelessness.

Before joining LASCO, Melissa worked at the Ohio Poverty Law Center as an Equal Justice Works fellow. Her fellowship project focused on providing legal services for people experiencing homelessness. Melissa also worked at the Ohio Poverty Law Center and the Legal Aid Society of Columbus as a law student.

Bar & Court Admissions

• State of Ohio
• United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio

Bar Activities

• Member, Ohio State Bar Association
  

Volunteer and Community Activities

• Vice President of the Board of Directors, Licking County Coalition for Housing
  

Education

• University of Dayton (B.A.)
• The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law (J.D., magna cum laude, 2006)