Melissa McKenney Ryan has been the Director of the Legal Division since December 2016. She joined the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 1992 as a Staff Attorney, and served as the Assistant Director of the Legal Division from 1998 to 2016. Prior to her court service, Ms. Ryan was a litigation associate at Crowell & Moring. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan College of Engineering in 1983, and graduated, cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 1988.