Melody’s practice primarily focuses in the areas of product liability and personal injury cases, and she also regularly defends pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in personal injury litigation. Melody serves as regional counsel for a number of product manufacturing clients, and she has successfully tried numerous product liability cases through the Southeast. In addition, she has extensive experience at the trial court level handling dispositive pretrial motions and oral argument, and Melody has represented clients in a number of successful appeals. Melody also represents various corporate defendants in fraud, bad faith and commercial litigation in Alabama. Melody has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for her product liability practice, as well as the Alabama editions of Super Lawyers, since 2011.

Melody obtained her undergraduate degree from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, where she graduated summa cum laude and was elected to the Alpha Chi honorary society. She then attended Law School at Vanderbilt University, where she served as the Managing Editor of the Law Review and was selected to the Order of the Coif. She began her practice here at Lightfoot Franklin upon graduation from Vanderbilt.

Melody is the current President of the Alabama Defense Lawyers Association, an organization of over 1,000 attorneys dedicated to the defense of civil actions and the promotion of fairness and integrity in the civil justice system. Before being elected President, Melody was a Director and Officer for the Association, was Chairperson for the ADLA Trial Academy from 1999-2001, and has served as a faculty member and speaker for both the Trial Academy and the ADLA Deposition Boot Camp. Melody is also a member of the Defense Research Institute, and she is the current Alabama State Liaison on the DRI Women in Law Committee. Melody also is a member of the Birmingham Bar Association, and she has served for many years on the Public Service Committee of the Birmingham Bar.

In addition to her trial and Bar-associated work, Melody has served on the Board of Directors for Magic Moments, a non-profit organization that grants non-medical wishes to chronically ill children in the State of Alabama. She is married to a trial lawyer, is a proud mother, and is a classically-trained musician who plays piano regularly at her church.