Melissa Brown is a family law practitioner in Charleston, SC, and a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (IAML). She has practiced family law exclusively since 1993. She is AV rated by Martindale Hubbell, which also awarded her the Preeminent Women Lawyers designation.

In May 2010, she joined the Faculty of the Houston Family Law Trial Institute at the South Texas School of Law to teach at their annual ten-day intensive trial advocacy program. Melissa is also the Chair of the AAML Technology Committee. In 2012 she was the recipient of AAML’s Outstanding Service Awards.

Melissa is a past Chair of the SC Family Law Council where she also served as a representative for many years. She is the Co-Chair of the SC Hot Tips Family Law CLE Program (’08 - to date), and she was Co-Chair of the SC Advanced Family Law CLE Program (’04,’08). When she served as Chair of the Family Law Council, they published SC’s first Family Lawyers’ Tool Kit. Melissa helped write the second edition (Spring of 2010), and she is currently editing the third edition.

Melissa is involved with the ABA Family Law Section having served in a variety of roles: Judge for the ABA Schwab Family Law Legal Writing Contest (’07-’08); Co-Chair of the ABA Family Law CLE Sponsorship Committee and Co-Editor of the ABA CLE daily Newsletters (’08 Spring and Fall, ’09 Spring conferences) and presenter at numerous ABA FLS CLE’s. 

Melissa’s CLE experience includes presentations to local, state, national and international audiences for groups including the SC Bar, the Canadian Family Law Section, American Bar Association Family Law Section, the National Business Institute, the Legal Education Institute and Atticus Legal Consulting Group. She also assisted as a guest speaker for the Citadel Masters Counseling Program since 2009 and at the Charleston School of Law. In 2008, she graduated from the Buckley School of Public Speaking. 

Melissa has published many family law related articles in national and state journals, including the SC Law Review, the American Journal of Family Law, the State Bar of Georgia Family Law Review, The South Carolina Lawyer, and the ABA Family Law Section E-Newsletter. Some of her articles are also cited in Am. Jur. Proof of Facts, Am. Jur. Trials, and other journals. 

Melissa graduated from the University of Virginia in 1987 with a B.A. in History, American Studies Program. In 1991, she received her JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law. While in law school, she was a member of the Order of the Barristers, the National Moot Court Team and the Moot Court Bar. After law school, she clerked for the Hon. William L. Howard, served as an assistant solicitor for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and in 1993, she entered private practice.

Firm Information:
Melissa F. Brown, LLC
145 King Street, Suite 405
Charleston, SC 29401

Phone: (843) 722-8900
Fax: (843) 722-8922

Website: http://www.melissa-brown.com

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