Melanie has practiced law at LOMAD since January 2020. Prior to that, she worked as an investigator for 10 years and conducted extensive background investigations on applicants who were applying for top secret security clearances, which involved interviewing their employers, neighbors, professors, and even their ex-spouses! Holding a top-secret security clearance herself for those years, she received several phone calls from old neighbors and classmates from high school who thought she was being investigated by the FBI.
She attended SUNY Fredonia where she earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and then went on to earn her master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Niagara University. She then moved to Florida where she started her work as an investigator and attended law school at Nova Southeastern University. She ultimately ended up back in Buffalo where she was admitted to the bar and started with LOMAD. During her career at LOMAD, Melanie initiated the newsletter, LOMAD Magazine, and has created a LOMADtv series, “Melanie’s Minutes”, where she discusses issues and strategies in WCL. She serves as President of the Buffalo Claims Association, and she enjoys the various outings with the organization throughout the year.
Melanie’s investigative nature and mission to uncover the histories that just don’t add up have come in handy when she is handling her workers’ compensation claims, as she has a strong passion for discovering inconsistencies from the beginning.
When she’s not practicing law, Melanie is spending time with her husband, Neil Diegelman (also an attorney with LOMAD) and their 6 children, which includes two sets of twins! Though some couples might have had enough of each other, Melanie and Neil love working together because they constantly bounce ideas off one another. They love spending summers by the pool as a family, and frequent trips to Florida to visit family, with their most recent adventure being a trip to Disney World