About the Director

Yolanda N. Melville, Director

Yolanda N. Melville is the Director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. Melville previously served as Senior Counsel to Attorney General Platkin and Director of Community Engagement, a liaison to stakeholders across the state tasked with connecting them with the Office of the Attorney General’s initiatives.

Melville has served as both a moderator and nationally recognized speaker on leadership and professional development, voting rights and housing issues. She has collaborated with some of the country’s greatest social justice leaders and has served in various leadership roles within state and national civil rights organizations.

She has received numerous awards including the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Champion for Justice” Honoree for the New Jersey State Governor’s Jefferson Awards (2019); Outstanding Young Professional Honoree for the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards (2022); and Atlantic County Bar Association’s Benjamin A. Rimm Young Lawyer of the Year Award (2023).

Before joining the Office of the Attorney General, Melville was a partner at Cooper Levenson, P.A., where she represented public and corporate clients in various stages of civil litigation in federal and state courts. Melville clerked for the Honorable Susan F. Maven in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division. She received her B.A. in English and Government from the College of William and Mary, M.S. in Criminal Justice from Virginia Commonwealth University, and J.D. from Howard University Law School, where she was the managing editor of the Human Rights and Globalization Law Review.