The operator-lawyer who helps run the firm

Business first, then the law

Melissa earned a B.S. in Business Administration at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, then her J.D. at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego — the law school on her official State Bar of California record. Source State Bar of California

She was admitted to the California bar on December 5, 2013 — license #293207, under her full name, Melissa Markos Nyman. Twelve years on, the record beside that license number reads the way every client hopes: active status, and not one entry in the disciplinary history. Source State Bar of California

Her role at Nyman Turkish

Melissa practices Social Security Disability law and works on the firm's disability-rights litigation — and as Deputy Managing Partner she helps run the firm, from its Roseville, California office, where her bar record lists her registered address. Source State Bar of California

The firm she helps manage has been at this since 1980: a nationwide Social Security Disability practice across four offices in California, Florida, and Michigan. As a partner and co-owner she shares in its record — including being the firm behind Binno v. LSAC, the case whose settlement changed the LSAT for every test-taker in the country. Source CNN · LSAC

In the federal courts

On February 21, 2017, Melissa was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court's own Journal records the moment — and the movant who stood to present her: Jason Marc Turkish, her law partner. Source Supreme Court Journal

The docket sheets fill in the practice. She appeared for the plaintiffs in Harris v. Wayne County Airport Authority, the Detroit Metro accessible-transit case, two weeks after it was filed. Source Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse

In all, the record shows her as counsel in eight federal cases in the Eastern District of Michigan — including Powell v. Benson, the accessible absentee-ballot case for blind Michigan voters — plus Social Security appeals in the Eastern District of California and briefing in two argued Sixth Circuit appeals. Source Federal court dockets

Beyond the firm

Her bio lists her as a co-founder and board member of the Alliance for America's Promise, the Social Security disability rights group whose advocacy — meetings at the White House and with the SSA Commissioner — ProPublica reported in 2025. Source Nyman Turkish PC · ProPublica

She is a member of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives and the American Bar Association. Source Nyman Turkish PC