Melissa R. Cushman

Associate

Melissa R. Cushman is an associate in Best Best & Krieger’s Environmental Law and Natural Resources, and Sustainable Communities practice groups, and has been with the firm since 2006. Ms. Cushman advises clients on projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and reviews environmental documents prepared pursuant to these acts. She also provides civil litigation services for proceedings brought under these acts, other land use laws, the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). 

While working at BB&K, Ms. Cushman has taught college or graduate-level classes at Cal State University, San Bernardino; University of California, Riverside; and La Verne Law School on CEQA, NEPA, Environmental Law, and Administrative Law. She also contributes a monthly article to the Eastern Water Law and Policy Reporter and sits on the Riverside County Bar Association’s Publications Committee, which publishes the Riverside Lawyer. 

Ms. Cushman graduated from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where she earned her Juris Doctor. She graduated magna cum laude from Pomona College with a BA in Anthropology. While in law school, Ms. Cushman worked as a production editor on the Review of Law and Women’s Studies, which has been renamed the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice. She also served as an extern to the Honorable Robert J. Timlin when he was a United States District Judge for the Central District of California.

Ms. Cushman is admitted to the California State Bar, the Federal District Court for the Central, Southern and Eastern Districts of California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition to her bar memberships, she also belongs to the Inland Empire Association of Environmental Professionals and is a member of the Leo A. Deegan American Inn of Court. 

Education

• University of Southern California (USC), J.D. (2006)
• Pomona College, B.A., magna cum laude

Bar Admissions

• California (2006)

Court Admissions

• California (2006)
• Federal District Court for the Central, Southern, and Eastern Districts of California
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Memberships

• Inland Empire Association of Environmental Professionals, Member

Authorships

• Eastern Water Law and Policy Reporter (monthly article)