About Savarese Law Firm

MELANIE RASIC SAVARESE is admitted to practice in the State of California before the United States District Court for the Central and Southern Districts of California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a graduate cum laude from Villanova University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Philosophy and Sociology. She received her law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 2001. Ms. Savarese started her legal career in 1997 at Girardi & Keese. She worked at Girardi & Keese until March 2002 focusing on product liability, professional negligence, personal injury and toxic torts. Upon the successful conclusion of an intensely litigated case against the Walt Disney Company, Ms. Savarese moved to Gancedo & Nieves, LLP to further her career as a litigator.

While at Gancedo & Nieves, Ms. Savarese focused on the areas of product liability and personal injury. She was heavily involved in common benefit work in various pharmaceutical litigations on the state and national level and served on the Plaintiff's Executive Committee in Vioxx Product Liability Litigation, JCCP No. 4247 (California). She was also involved in the Prempro Product Liability Litigation, MDL 1507, involving the hormone replacement drug Prempo, Zyprexa Products Liability Litigation, MDL 1596, involving the schizophrenia and bipolar disorder drug Zyprexa, In Re: Baycol Cases Litigation, JCCP Nos. 4217 (California) and 4223 (California), involving the cholesterol drug Baycol, and Rezulin Product Liability Litigation, MDL 1348 and JCCP 4122 (California), involving the diabetes drug Rezulin.

At the same time, Ms. Savarese handled a vast array of single plaintiff personal injury cases including actions involving medical negligence, catastrophically injured infants, motor vehicle negligence, and general negligence.

Prior to establishing her own firm, Ms. Savarese joined the forces at Mathews & Rager, LLP where she litigated numerous cases involving discrimination and harassment based on race, national origin, disability, age, and gender. Her cases also included instances of retaliation and other violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, California Family Rights Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. In addition to employment cases, Ms. Savarese successfully litigated business disputes and other personal injury matters.

Ms. Savarese is a member in good standing of the State Bar of California, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Consumer Attorneys of California, the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles and the California Employment Lawyers Association.

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