Melissa Crespo advises companies on high-stakes privacy, cybersecurity, and technology matters. Clients rely on her to quickly identify what matters, assess risk, and develop practical, defensible solutions. She regularly advises on matters involving emerging technologies and laws, and business models that do not fit neatly within existing frameworks.

Melissa’s practice brings together counseling, regulatory investigations, strategic transactions, and incident response. That perspective informs every aspect of her advice. She understands how decisions made during product development may later be viewed by regulators, how privacy and cybersecurity issues can affect deal value and integration, and how policies and controls perform when tested by an incident.

Melissa advises companies across the lifecycle of data use, from building privacy compliance programs and designing consumer-facing products, to commercializing data, as well as on the development and deployment of artificial intelligence.

Drawing on her experience with state privacy laws and the FTC’s consumer protection authority, Melissa helps clients structure data-driven products, advertising, analytics, and monetization strategies in ways that are practical and defensible. She has substantial experience with children’s and teen privacy, online safety, age assurance, parental consent, and products designed for younger users.

She has particular depth in health privacy and security. She advises healthcare, life sciences, digital health, and technology companies on HIPAA and other laws governing health information, including in connection with emerging technologies, research, digital advertising, interoperability, information blocking, and new uses of health data.

Melissa regularly represents companies in privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer protection investigations before the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, state attorneys general, and international regulators. She helps clients develop the factual and legal record, anticipating how regulators will assess a company’s conduct and decision-making, and positioning clients for an effective resolution.

Her transactional practice includes advising on privacy and cybersecurity issues in acquisitions, investments, and other strategic transactions. That work sharpens her understanding of which issues can affect value, impede growth, or become post-closing problems, and makes her a more effective counselor to companies developing products, compliance programs, and long-term data strategies.

Melissa also leads clients through significant data security incidents. She coordinates legal strategy from investigation and notification through remediation and regulatory response, giving her practical insight into how privacy and security decisions hold up under pressure.

Melissa serves on Morrison Foerster’s Life Sciences Steering Committee and Interactive + Digital Media Steering Committee, reflecting her work across regulated industries, emerging technologies, and consumer-facing products.