Melissa Cochran focuses her practice on product liability, particularly asbestos litigation, where she represents and defends numerous and varied equipment manufacturers, outside contractors and supplier companies. Melissa's day-to-day asbestos practice includes overseeing and directly participating in all phases of litigation, from investigation to trial, throughout Western Pennsylvania. She also frequently participates in discovery in Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and Madison County, Illinois. In addition, Melissa serves as assistant national counsel for two manufacturing defendants, where her duties include coordination of discovery responses and communication with local trial counsel. Melissa's concentration on her asbestos practice enables her to provide clients with attentive, insightful and cost-effective strategies to combat the ever-evolving challenges of this fast-paced litigation.
As an experienced property and casualty attorney, Melissa represents clients in magistrate and arbitration level trials involving automobile accidents, premises liability claims and product liability suits. She is also actively involved in the investigation, discovery and pre-trial phases of complex multi-vehicle accidents, dram-shop and bad faith cases.
In 2000 Melissa graduated from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania where she earned her B.A. in English and political science. While attending Saint Vincent, she founded the Saint Vincent College Mock Trial Team and served as its captain. In 2003, Melissa earned her juris doctor from Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, where she was a member of the Trial Moot Court Honor Society. Melissa competed on the law school's Trial Moot Court team in 2002, when her team placed in the finals at the regional tournament, and in 2003, when her team placed in the semi-finals at the regional tournament.
Honors & awards
Best Lawyers in America, Commercial Litigation; Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants; Product Liability Litigation - Defendants
2020-2026
Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star
2012-2013
Year joined
2005
Thought Leadership
98 Marshall Dennehey Attorneys Recognized in the 2026 Editions of The Best Lawyers in America and the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America
August 20, 2025
Marshall Dennehey is proud to highlight the firm’s 98 attorneys who have been recognized in the 2026 editions of The Best Lawyers in America and the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America. Less than 6% of all practicing lawyers in the U.S.
Classes/Seminars Taught
Causation Decisions Around the Country, Defense Research Institute (DRI) - Asbestos Medicine Conference - November 2017
Defending Damages, Panel Moderator, Defense Research Institute (DRI) Asbestos Medicine conference, November 5, 2015
The Fair Share Act, Transparency, and the Effect of Bankruptcy Claims on Pending Civil Litigation, National Business Institute CLE Seminar on Asbestos Litigation, August 12, 2014
AV Preeminent®: The highest peer rating standard. This rating signifies a large number of the lawyer’s peers rank him
or her at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal knowledge, communication skills and ethical standards.
Distinguished: An excellent rating for a lawyer with some experience. This rating indicates the attorney is widely
respected by their peers for high professional achievement and ethical standards.
Notable: This rating indicates that the lawyer has been recognized by a large number of their peers for strong ethical standards.
