Biography
Melinda Lee Maddox is an experienced attorney and educator with more than three decades of practice in family law, civil, and criminal litigation. Since 1993, she has represented clients across a broad range of matters, including family law, divorce, federal and state criminal defense, civil rights litigation, immigration, employment discrimination, domestic relations, estate planning, and appellate advocacy. She has a legal zeal and compassion in complex divorce litigation, equitable distribution, and custody matters, which is her current client focus out of the JC Law Fairfax, VA office. Her past work includes drafting appellate briefs for other firms and handling appeals in both federal and state courts. She has also served in judicial and public service roles, including appointment to manage courthouse compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and serving as a Special Municipal Court Judge presiding over criminal trials.
In addition to her legal practice, Maddox has an extensive background in legal education. She has taught as an adjunct professor at multiple institutions, covering subjects such as family law, domestic violence, constitutional law, criminal procedure, and legal writing. She currently serves as a continuing legal education instructor, focusing on divorce management and domestic violence issues in family law cases.
Maddox has been actively involved in professional and civic organizations, including service on a state advisory committee for civil rights, bar association ethics committees, and domestic violence advocacy groups. She has contributed to policy development, including coauthoring Alabama’s domestic violence statute, and has worked as a mediator and advisor on alternative dispute resolution practices.
Her career includes significant civil rights and constitutional litigation, achieving outcomes in First Amendment, gender discrimination, and prison conditions cases, as well as advocacy that led to policy changes in educational and correctional institutions. Maddox earned her J.D. from Cumberland School of Law and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Alabama, and she is admitted to practice before multiple state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States.
Practice Areas
- Family Law
Education
- Cumberland School of Law, Homewood, Alabama
- J.D.
- University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- B.S.
Bar Admissions
- Virginia
- U.S. Supreme Court