Melissa is a partner in the firm of Gillam & Smith. She tries lawsuits in the state and federal courts of the Eastern District of Texas for both plaintiffs and defendants.

As a result of her courtroom success on the plaintiff side, she has had verdicts listed as Verdict Search’s Top Texas Verdicts for 8 separate years including most recently in 2017 and was inducted into the Texas Lawyer’s , Texas Verdicts Hall of Fame in 2013.

On the defense side, Melissa has tried multiple patent cases to verdict that resulted in both non infringement and invalidity verdicts. She has served as local counsel for visiting lawyers in more than fifteen hundred patent cases.

Melissa is recognized among the top lawyers in her field. She has been named a Texas Superlawyer every year since 2008, a top 50 Texas Female Lawyer for multiple years, and has been recognized by the National Trial Lawyers as both a Top 100 Trial Lawyer and previously as a Top 40 lawyer under age 40. She has been designated as a “go-to” lawyer by numerous Fortune 500 Companies in the area of intellectual property. She has been rated AV Preeminent by Lexis Nexis / Martindale-Hubbell. Most recently she was included in Benchmark’s Top 250 Women in Litigation.

Melissa is actively involved in activities in the Eastern District of Texas as a member of the T. John Ward American Inn of Court and the East Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. She has served in appointed positions including the Eastern District Local Rules Advisory Committee, Eastern District of Texas Bar Board of Directors where she currently serves as Vice-President, Federal Magistrate Merit Selection Panels, and Federal Magistrate Reappointment Evaluation Committees.

Melissa serves as a Jaworski Fellow at Baylor Law School.

Melissa lives with her family on a working cattle ranch and rides and shows cutting horses in her free time.