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Dedicated to Excellence
A cum laude juris doctor graduate of Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Melinda worked her way through school assisting a local prosecutor while parenting a young child. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management & Leadership from Friends University after a career managing other people's businesses.
While at MHSL, she served as a law review managing editor and won a CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Deals and Disputes. Melinda packed her law school experience with elective criminal law courses, completing Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Comparative Criminal Law, Advanced Advocacy: Criminal Trial, and Expert Witness Advocacy before continuing her legal education as a licensed professional in the states of Kansas and Iowa. Specialized continuing legal education includes courses in real estate, property and trusts for estate planning. Melinda also teaches trial advocacy skills and criminal law as a part-time Adjunct Professor.
Passionate and Empathetic
Prior to attending law school, Melinda was just a regular person working as a manager in various corporations. That all changed when she suffered tremendous tragedy and loss. Her infant daughter Ina Jane died suddenly in 2010. This set off a chain of events that can only be described as horrifying: her husband was accused of--and later tried for--murder, her daughter Murphy was taken by the State, and she lost her home and her job while fighting for her family.
But Melinda had the help of outstanding attorneys who inspired her to rise above all these occurrences. She learned to manage crisis while moving forward. She became an attorney so that she might use this experience to help others in times of need.