Melissa K. Dagodag

Melissa is the Attorney for Creative Types. After graduation from Stanford University, Melissa founded and then operated a successful design and manufacturing business for eight years. During that time, Melissa learned what it takes to create and run a successful company. She decided to become a lawyer after feeling the frustration of seeing her designs and other ideas stolen by others. While attending UCLA School of Law, she began to understand just how many people and businesses needed good help in protecting their bright ideas. After earning her J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 2000, she worked as an attorney at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm (Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP) then in-house as Vice President of a small music publishing company (Palan Music, later purchased by MCS) and as Business Affairs Counsel at a prominent fashion company (BCBG). Aspiring to give her clients the personal attention that she had wanted when she ran my design and manufacturing business, she decided to open her own law practice in 2006. To this day, she adheres to the ideals that brought her to the practice of law in the first place: protecting and strengthening the work of entrepreneurs and creative businesses. Awards and Honors Honors Paul Harris Fellow, 2007 - Present

• Sole Practitioner

• Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, Attorney, 2000 - 2001
• BCBG Max Azria, Business Affairs Counsel
• Languages
• English (Primary)
• Spanish

• Fashion Law 101, California Lawyers for the Arts, 2007 - Present
• The Music Business, California Lawyers for the Arts, 2008 - Present
• Copyright 101, California Lawyers for the Arts
• Trade Mark & Unfair Competition Law , Pepperdine School of Law

• Meals on Wheels West, 2007 - Present
• California Lawyer for the Arts Lecturer, 2006 - Present
• Santa Monica Rotary Club, 2006 - Present
• City of Santa Monica - Commisioner
• Representative Clients
• Bliss & Bone, LLC (branding and web design company)
• Dani Mana Designs, Inc. (software company)
• A Common Thread, Production Company
• HHW Technologies Inc., Technology Company
• Ancillary Businesses
• Intellectual Property
• Corporate Transactions

• California, 2000
• U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, 2000

• California State Bar, 2000 - Present
• Santa Monica Rotary Club, 2008 - Present (Director)
• Meals on Wheels West, 2007 - Present (Board Member)