Wikipedia

Draft:Mark Melton

  • Comment: Very likely notable, but reads more like a LinkedIn profile or resume. Very promotional, especially with an entire section touting his pro bono work. CNMall41 (talk) 01:25, 14 September 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Improperly referenced, missing citations that are called. See the warnings in red in the #References section. Bobby Cohn (talk) 19:28, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Mark A. Melton
Born
Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Arlington (BBA)
University of Texas at Arlington (MS)
SMU (JD)
OccupationLawyer
EmployerHolland & Knight
SpouseLauren Melton

Mark Aaron Melton (born March 20, 1978) is an American attorney and housing advocate based in Dallas, Texas.[1] His housing advocacy work has focused primarily on renters' rights and on eviction prevention.[2] He co-founded and heads the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center (DEAC), an organization of volunteer attorneys that helps renters avoid eviction and housing insecurity.[3] He is a partner at Holland & Knight.[4]

Early life and Education

edit

Melton grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[4] He was raised in a politically conservative household and attended a small, private high school run by Victory Christian Church.[1] Melton graduated from high school a semester early and chose to enter the workforce, finding employment with a debt collection company rather than attending college.[1] When the company, Commercial Financial Services, went bankrupt in 1999, Melton lost his income and was subsequently evicted from home with his wife and two young children.[3] Following his eviction in Tulsa, Melton relocated to Dallas, Texas to find work.[5] He enrolled in junior college at Tarrant County College.[3] In 2003, Melton graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) with a Bachelors of Business Administration and a Masters of Science in Taxation.[6] On January 31, 2004, he and a UTA teammate won the National Moot Court Competition.[7] Melton applied to thirteen law schools and was accepted only into Southern Methodist University, where he took night classes while working at a tax firm during the day; he graduated in 2008.[1]

Career

edit

After graduating from law school, Melton went to work for the law firm of Hunton & Williams.[2] In 2018, he moved to Holland & Knight as a tax attorney and partner.[1]

Pro bono and community work

edit

During the first weeks of the Covid 19 pandemic, when layoffs were increasingly widespread, Melton started using Facebook to answer questions about evictions.[1] In 2020, Melton started Dallas Evictions 2020, an organization with close to 200 attorneys, as of May 2021, that provided pro bono eviction assistance during the Covid 19 pandemic.[4] Melton and the group also secured donations to help families pay back rent and hire legal representation.[8]

In January of 2021, Melton and his wife, Lauren, co-founded the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center (DEAC) to provide pro bono services to tenants facing eviction,[4] including advising renters on protections, representing them in court, and helping them access government aid for rent payments.[5] As of February 2022, Melton and his team's success rate at keeping clients from eviction was about 96%[3] and had helped about 10,000 people.[9] Much of the DEAC's private funding came from the Meltons.[4] When Melton relied on outside sources, he used private grants rather than government funds, which he believed would have slowed their work down.[10] Melton also collaborated with nonprofits such as the United Way and City Square to provide other services for struggling renters.[10] In addition to legal services, Melton and his wife recruited volunteers to help renters move, collect furnishings for new apartments and enroll their children in area schools or daycare.[4] In September of 2021, Melton drafted an ordinance, adopted by the city of Dallas, giving tenants 60 days to prove they had undergone financial hardship due to Covid 19 pandemic, while allowing them time to come up with money to pay back rent.[2]

Personal life

edit

Melton and Lauren Melton married in 2017.[4] He has four children.[10]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f Nickell, J.K. (July 2024). "The Eviction Cure". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Vaughn, Jacob (18 April 2022). "North Texas Is Seeing an Unexpected Jump in Evictions". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Goodman, Matt (1 May 2024). "The Lawyer Who Landlords Don't Want to See in Court". D Magazine. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Grigsby, Sharon (22 July 2022). "Landlords' eviction gamble in Dallas County goes bust when pro bono lawyers show up". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  5. ^ a b Stengle, Jamie; Casey, Michael (27 April 2021). "Dallas lawyer takes up mission to help people avoid eviction". Associated Press. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Alumni news" (PDF). University of Texas at Arlington Magazine (Spring 2013): 40. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  7. ^ Sweat, Candace (3 February 2004). "Moot court team takes title". The short horn: UT Arlington's main news source since 1919. University of Texas at Arlington. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  8. ^ Villafranca, Omar; Canales, Angel (19 May 2021). "Inside Dallas eviction court: Pro bono lawyers help tenants stay in homes during pandemic". CBS News. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  9. ^ Rippetoe, Rachel (1 June 2022). "ABA Lauds 3 Firms, 2 Texas Attys As Pro Bono Standouts". Law 360. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  10. ^ a b c Babb, Christina Hughes (28 February 2022). "96% of Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center's clients stay in their homes". The Advocate (Lakewood). The Advocate Magazine. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Mark_Melton&oldid=1245613445"