Melinda Koster is a Senior Litigation Counsel in Sanford Heisler Sharp’s New York Office. She received her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Pomona College and her law degree from Stanford Law School.
Melinda represents employees with a wide range of claims, including discrimination on the basis of gender, pregnancy, and age, in both public litigation and privately negotiated settlements.
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Prior to joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Melinda clerked for the Honorable Julio M. Fuentes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and for the Honorable Esther Salas of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. She also served as a Law Fellow at Phillips & Cohen LLP, where she worked primarily on qui tam and SEC whistleblower matters.
At Stanford Law School, Melinda served as a Notes Editor for the Stanford Law Review and was the recipient of the Gerald Gunther Prize for Outstanding Performance in Employment Law. She served as the Co-President of the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation and the Co-Chair of Stanford’s Law Students for Reproductive Justice chapter.
Melinda also participated in the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School, where she represented a client facing removal proceedings and won a motion to terminate the proceedings. As a clinic student, Melinda worked on a long-term advocacy project involving the treatment of immigrant youth in the juvenile justice system. Additionally, Melinda participated in Stanford’s Criminal Defense Clinic, where she represented indigent clients facing misdemeanor charges at various stages of their criminal proceedings.
Before law school, Ms. Koster served as a corps member of AVODAH: The Jewish Services Corps. She worked as a legal assistant at CASA de Maryland, where she helped lawyers provide direct legal services to day laborers and domestic workers and delivered know-your-rights presentations.
