Joseph M. Mellano
Partner
- Location:
- San Diego, California
- Phone:
- (619) 696-9500 (Ext. 126)
- Direct:
- (619) 546-9931
- Fax:
- (800) 868-9350
- Email:
- jmellano@shufirm.com
Areas of Practice
- Securities, Corporate, Financial Services Litigation and Arbitration
- Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Litigation
- Business, Commercial, Transactional, Contract and Trust Disputes
- Regulatory, Enforcement, and Compliance Inquiries, Investigations and Proceedings
- Registered Representative, Broker, and Adviser Transitions and Client Retention Consultation
- Securities Industry Benefits and Promissory Note Dispute Resolution
- Securities and Financial Fraud and Ponzi Scheme Litigation
- Product and Strategy Suitability Matters
Joseph Mellano
Joseph “Joe” Mellano is a Partner in the firm’s San Diego office. He is a litigator and focuses on securities, financial services, and corporate litigation and arbitration; trade secret, unfair competition, and transactional disputes; registered representative, broker, and financial adviser firm transition and client retention consultation; securities industry employment benefits and promissory note claim resolution; and securities industry compliance and regulatory investigations. He has extensive experience prosecuting and defending clients in cases involving financial product and strategy suitability issues, Ponzi schemes, indexed universal life insurance, securities industry firm transition disputes.
Mr. Mellano has a B.A. from Brown University in Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship. While attending Brown, he was a four-year, NCAA Division I baseball letterman. After graduating from Brown, he earned his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law, where he concentrated in both corporate law and criminal litigation. Outside of his work for the firm, Mr. Mellano enjoys watching and playing baseball, improving his golf game, and running reasonable distances at leisurely paces.
Education
- University of San Diego School of Law, San Diego, California
- J.D., cum laude, 2015
- Certificate of Concentration in Business and Corporate Law and Criminal Litigation
- Alec Cory Endowed Scholarship Recipient
- Academic Teaching Fellow, Constitutional Law, and Tort Law
- Executive Board member, USD School of Law Appellate Moot Court Board
- Chief Student Comments Editor, San Diego International Law Journal
- CALI Excellence for the Future Award, Corporations
- Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
- B.A., Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship, 2010
Bar Admissions
- California
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Publications & Presentations
- SEC Adopts Best Interest Rule (June 6, 2019)
- What is the California Consumer Privacy Act? (March 16, 2020)
- Legal Considerations When Investing in NFTs (June 3, 2021)
- Ponzi Scheme Bulletin (January 20, 2022)
Honors & Awards
- Super Lawyers© 2025 Rising Star
- Super Lawyers© 2024 Rising Star
- Super Lawyers© 2023 Rising Star
- Super Lawyers© 2022 Rising Star
- Super Lawyers© 2021 Rising Star
