Melissa L. Desgrottes is an associate attorney at Bretz & Coven, LLP, and has a juris doctor from Rutgers Law School in Newark, New Jersey. She is admitted to the New York Bar. Prior to joining Bretz & Coven, Melissa represented individuals in detained removal proceedings as a supervising attorney in the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) at The Bronx Defenders. Previously, Melissa was a staff attorney at Sanctuary for Families in the Immigration Intervention Project, where she represented immigrant survivors of gender violence. Melissa's legal career is rooted in removal defense, with a focus on clients who have had prior contact with the criminal justice system. She holds a B.A. from Boston College, and is fluent in French and Haitian Creole.