Melanie Klein serves as a volunteer attorney with Child Justice. Ms. Klein graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a B.S. in Zoology and an M.A. in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, where she studied the physiological ecology of lemurs. She received her J.D. from Columbia University Law School (graduating as a Stone Scholar) in 1999. Also in 1999, she received an MSW (social work). In law school, Ms. Klein was an Editor of the Columbia Law Review. She is barred to practice law in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Ms. Klein worked at Legal Aid of Maryland from 1992-1995 and returned as a Skadden Fellow in 1999, focusing on the representation of abused and neglected children with disabilities. When her fellowship was up, she continued working at Legal Aid as a Staff Attorney in the Child Advocacy Unit. From 2003-2011, she served as Senior Attorney for Child Welfare. Ms. Klein is particularly interested in the interaction of the child welfare system with custody cases and domestic violence. As a Child Justice volunteer, she seeks to foster and improve research, training, communication, and overall knowledge relating to the intersections of the child welfare, domestic violence, and custody systems.

Ms. Klein is a highly experienced attorney, having briefed and argued cases before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and the Court of Appeals and presented at national conferences, while prioritizing direct representation of abused and neglected children. At Legal Aid, she had primary responsibility for staff training and helped lead the organization’s efforts to create systemic reform of the child welfare system in Maryland. She also served on a multidisciplinary committee that drafted the most recent version of Maryland’s Termination of Parental Rights statute.

In her spare time, Ms. Klein loves to spend time with her husband, children, and their menagerie, including dogs, cats, and a bearded dragon. She loves to hike and camp, play the piano, read, and watch Law and Order.