Melissa Vaughn is a Partner in the St. Louis office of Lewis Brisbois, a Vice Chair of the National General Liability Practice, and a member of the Healthcare, General Liability, Toxic Tort & Environmental Litigation, and Behavioral Health Practices. Ms. Vaughn devotes a significant amount of her practice to the defense of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare and long-term professionals and organizations in claims involving professional negligence and elder abuse.Ms. Vaughn also has extensive experience representing various commercial entities, including product manufacturers, transportation companies, and construction contractors in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, product liability, and premises liability actions; as well as in toxic tort and environmental litigation.In addition, she represents insurers and insureds in first and third-party insurance coverage disputes, breach of contract, and bad-faith litigation.Ms. Vaughn defends clients in federal and state courts in Missouri, Illinois, and several other jurisdictions across the country. She manages all phases of litigation, including pre-suit investigation, written discovery, fact and expert witness depositions, vigorous motion practice, mediation, arbitration, and trial. She also successfully negotiates pre-suit and pre-trial settlements and dismissals on behalf of her clients.

Melissa Vaughn is the Deputy Partner-in-Charge of the St. Louis office of Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young LLP, where she focuses on toxic tort and environmental litigation; product and premises liability; medical negligence; transportation; bad faith and coverage litigation; and general negligence.Melissa defends clients in federal and state courts in Missouri, Illinois, and several other jurisdictions across the country. She is responsible for all phases of litigation, including pre-suit investigation, written discovery, fact and expert witness depositions, vigorous motion practice, and trial. She also successfully negotiates pre-suit and pre-trial settlements and dismissals on behalf of her clients.Prior to joining the firm, Melissa represented clients in litigation involving insurance coverage disputes, primarily first-party property matters and bad faith claims, in both federal and state jurisdictions. In addition, her practice included general negligence and professional malpractice defense.Selected for inclusion in the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Illinois Super Lawyers® list of “Rising Stars,” a peer review designation published by Thomson Reuters, as well as selected for inclusion in the 2013 Illinois Super Lawyers® “Top Women Attorneys in Illinois” list.

Melissa's practice includes insurance coverage litigation involving, among other areas, first-party property insurance matters and bad faith claims in both federal and state jurisdictions. She also practices in the areas of product liability, construction negligence, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, transportation negligence and premises liability. She has significant experience in preparing cases for trial and successfully negotiating pre-trial and pre-suit settlements.