planning

Melissa has practiced exclusively in the areas of estate planning, probate, trusts, charitable planning, actions in probate and superior courts and estate and gift tax her entire career.  She is a graduate of Yale University (B.A., 1985) and Duke University School of Law (J.D., cum laude, 1988).

Melissa was a founding partner of Salo and Walker and practiced with the firm from 1995 until Ann Salo’s retirement in 2017. Melissa previously practiced with Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in San Francisco and Long, Aldridge & Norman and Grenwald & Salo in Atlanta.  She is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a member of the American Bar Association (member, Real Property, Probate & Trust section), the Atlanta Bar Association (member, Estate Planning and Probate Section, member, Board of Directors 2000-2002), the State Bar of Georgia (Fiduciary Section, Chair, 2004-2005, Chair, Legislation Committee, 1999-2002, Chair, Rule Against Perpetuities Study Committee, 1999-2000), the State Bar of California (inactive), the Atlanta Estate Planning Council (member, Board of Directors, 2000-2002, 2010-2012), and the Decatur-DeKalb Estate Planning Council.  Melissa has been selected by her peers as a Georgia Super Lawyer in the area of Estate Planning and Probate by Atlanta Magazine every year since 2004. She serves as a member of The Paideia School Endowment Fund, Atlanta, Georgia, and served on the Board of Trustees of the school from 2007 to 2019.