Member Spotlight

Melissa is a practicing attorney licensed in California (2005), Oregon (2007) and Washington (2011), and she anticipates entry to the Hawai’i Bar in 2026. Melissa is the owner and principal attorney of the boutique intellectual property and business transactional firm: The Law Offices of Melissa B. Jaffe, PC. Melissa is deeply committed to serving her legal communities and currently holds the following leadership positions: Chair, Washington State Bar Association’s Business Law Section; Chair-Elect, Oregon State Bar Intellectual Property Law Section; and California Lawyers Association Business Law Section Executive Committee. Melissa is also an elected member of the Oregon State Bar House of Delegates, and served as an appointed member of the Washington State Bar Wellbeing Taskforce in 2024-2025. Melissa began her legal career in-house with LucasArts in their Presidio campus, and continued her IP-focused practice as in-house counsel with Genentech, Inc.  Melissa then moved to Portland, Oregon to join the Adidas America legal team in Portland, Oregon. After her service with Adidas, Melissa decided to hang her own shingle and assist artists and creatives in pursuing meaningful entrepreneurial endeavors.  Melissa currently serves as pro bono counsel for the Portland-based theater company Third Rail Reparatory Theater.

Melissa received her 200-hour yoga teacher certification from the Nityanada Institute in Portland, Oregon and her meditation teaching credential from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Founder Jack Kornfield. Melissa counts her blessings because she was able to study for several years directly with Ram Dass in Maui, Hawaii.

Melissa decided to blend her passions for wellness and business law into a complimentary coaching practice called Blissness School, where entrepreneurs can learn the basics of business law in a fun and easy to understand online platform, and lawyers can gain wellness coaching and join with other professionals for in-person retreats on Maui, Hawai’i.

“I originally created a video for business owners who did not understand the basics of intellectual property law and why it was so important for the success of their businesses, back in 2012.  I found myself repeating the distinctions between copyright, trademark, patent, etc. and it saved me time to simply post the videos. Over time I received requests for more details and I made videos in response to those requests,” said Melissa.

In 2022 Melissa was diagnosed with cancer, which drew her attention to the inherent dangers of our high-stress legal profession. She shared, “I was shocked to learn that chronic stress was a greater factor in creating a cancerous environment in the human body than genetics.  I worked at Genentech on clinical trials for chemotherapy that I later was prescribed – that was a real-world experience of the impact of my work; however, at that time, the human genome project hypothesized that we could identify and ‘turn off’ cancer-causing genes. That was wrong. Then I read the 2016 ABA-Hazeldon Betty Ford Foundation Study on lawyer well-being, and I knew I could provide a service to my legal community by educating on ways to reduce stress and mange inflammation. Running in-person wellness retreats for lawyers has become a passion and I am honored to expand Blissness School offerings for professionals.”

Melissa is most excited about her upcoming CLA Business Law Section podcast, set to be released this year. You can find that podcast on the Business Law YouTube page on the on CLA website. On May 6th, 2026, Melissa will be teaching a yoga class in Century City followed by a networking mixer on behalf of CLA and the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

When she’s not working, Melissa enjoys teaching yoga and surfing with her daughter on the North Shore of Maui.