Melanie E. Davis

Melanie E. Davis

Melanie E. Davis


Melanie E. Davis, a native of Maryville, Tennessee, is an AV rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell. Melanie graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in French Magna Cum Laude in 1992. She was Phi Beta Kappa and a Normandy Scholar. She attended graduate school at the University of Tennessee from 1992-1993 in French Literature and went on to Law School, graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Law Cum Laude in 1996. She was Woman Graduate of the Year in 1996. She was a member of the Labor Law Moot Court Team. While attending law school, Melanie clerked for the U. S. Attorney's Office in Knoxville, Tennessee and for the Honorable Leon Jordan of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Melanie joined Kizer & Black in 1995 and has been a partner since 2007. Her areas of practice include civil litigation, personal injury, contract litigation, property litigation, municipal law, land use law, property owners' association law, and condominium owners' association law. She is the attorney for the City of Maryville and for the Town of Greenback. She has represented the City of Maryville since 1999, and as such represents the Maryville City Council, the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. She is the attorney for the Maryville City School System, the Maryville Housing Authority, South Blount Utility District and Tuckalechee Utility District. She is the delinquent tax attorney for the City of Maryville, collecting past due property taxes. She represents approximately 200 property owners' associations and condominium owners' associations throughout East Tennessee. She also represents many local individuals and businesses.

Melanie is board certified in Civil Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and has been since 2008. She is also certified by the National Board of Civil Pretrial Practice Advocacy, a division of the National Board of Legal Specialties Certifications, as a specialist in civil pretrial advocacy. She was named as one of the top 100 lawyers in Tennessee for each year from 2013-present by the National Trial Lawyers Association. Melanie served as a hearing committee member for the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility from 2006-2012. She is a Super Lawyer for 2023 and was from 2018 through 2022 as well. She was elected by her peers to be included in the Best Lawyers in America from 2019-present.

Melanie has been a member of the Blount County Bar Association since 1996 and was President in 2001 and 2011. She is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the Tennessee Municipal Attorneys Association (TMAA). She was President of the TMAA, the professional association for city attorneys in Tennessee from 2019-2020. She is a Senior Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America and the Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute.

She has presented CLE seminars and seminars in the community on municipal law, local government law, property owners' association law, and law on the internet.

Melanie is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a society of trial lawyers who have obtained a trial verdict, award, or settlement in the amount of one million dollars or more. She was a 2011 Mid-South Rising Star Super Lawyer in business litigation and received the same honor in 2010. She was previously selected by the National Trial Lawyers as being in the Top 40 Under 40, recognizing her as one of the top 40 lawyers under the age of 40 in the state of Tennessee at the time.

Melanie is a member of the Board of Directors for the Blount County Community Action Agency (Meals on Wheels) and was Chairman of the Board from 2016-18. She was on the Board of the Maryville City Schools Foundation from 2004-2009. She was a member of the Leadership Blount Class of 2001 and is a former Board member of the Blount County American Red Cross, the YWCA of Blount County, Children’s International Summer Villages, and Vocational Rehab of Blount County, Tennessee.

She has been married to Chad, a CPA, since 1992. They live in Maryville and have three daughters.

CASES ARGUED IN TENNESSEE COURT OF APPEALS AND/OR THE TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT: (39)
Payne v. Savell, 1998 WL 46454
Perkins v. Swafford, 1998 WL 744109
In Re Estate of Peery, 2000 WL 222617
Sutton v. Sutton, 2000 WL 337567
Venable v. Venable, 2001 WL 427650
Hopewell Baptist Church v. Southeast Window Mfg. Co., LLC, 2001 WL 708850
Stinnett v. Ferguson, 2002 Tenn. App. Lexis 212
Foster v. Colonial Development, 2002 WL 185477
White v. Jenkins, 2002 WL 31106423
Rodgers v. Rodgers, 2004 WL 129990
Michael v. Michael, 2004 WL 362348
Laurel Valley Property Owners Association, Inc. v. Hollingsworth, 2004 WL 1459404
Danny L. Davis Contractors v. Hobbs, 157 S.W.3d 414 (Tenn. App. 2004)
Hinkle v. Estate of Hartman, 2007 WL 700973
Proffitt v. Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers Supply, Inc., 2010 WL 1240975
Ward v. Yokley, 338 S.W.3d 912 (Tenn.App. 2010)
Layne v. Adkins, 2011 Tenn. App. Lexis 475
City of Maryville v. Langford, 2012 WL 2309607
Profitt v. Smoky Mt Woodcarvers Supply, Inc., 2012 Tenn. App. Lexis 308
In Re Estate of Miller, 2013 Tenn. App. Lexis 37
Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company v. Reed, 419 S.W.3d 262 (Tenn.App. 2013)
Haiser v. Haines, 2014 Tenn. App. Lexis 804
Laurel Hills Condos Property Association v. Tennessee Regulatory Authority, 2014 Tenn. App. Lexis 205
F&M Marketing Services v. Christenberry Trucking, 2015 Tenn. App. Lexis 846
F&M Marketing Services v. Christenberry Trucking, 523 S.W.3d 663 (Tenn.App. 2017)
Floyd v. Akins, 2017 Tenn.App. Lexis 724
Blount Co. Bd of Ed. v. City of Maryville, 2017 WL 6606855
Blount Co. Bd of Ed. v. City of Maryville, 574 S.W.3d 849 (Tenn. 2019)
Crisp v. Nelms, 2018 Tenn. App. Lexis 160
Haiser v. McClung, 2018 Tenn. App. Lexis 509
Innerimages, Inc. v. Newman, 579 S.W.3d 29 (Tenn. App. 2019)
Keller v. Casteel, et al., 602 S.W.3d 351 (Tenn. 2020)
Dailey v. Dailey, 2020 WL 3967843
Barton v. Barton, 2020 WL 6580562
Southeast Jubilee Investment, LLC v. Uma Shiv, 2020 WL 7024373
Crenshaw v. Kado, et al., 2021 Tenn. App. Lexis 236
Haiser v. McClung, 2022 Tenn. App. Lexis 420
Richman v. Debity, TBD Tenn. App. 2023

CASES ARGUED IN TENNESSEE COURT OF APPEALS SIXTH CIRCUIT: (2)
Kinney v. Anderson Lumber Co., 2018 U.S. App. Lexis 26102
Jaynes v. Austin, 2001 20 Fed. Appx. 421

Litigation Counsel of America - Senior Fellow