Professor of Law
Professor Melissa Shultz has taught legal writing, family law, and a domestic violence practicum, and has participated actively in bar preparation for the past five years. In addition to founding and leading the legal writing program, Shultz chaired North Texas Dallas College of Law’s curriculum and bylaws committees and served on both the hiring and dean search committees.
She is a co-author of Writing by Numbers: Legal Writing Made Easy. She previously practiced business and antitrust law at King & Spalding in Washington, D.C., and owned a freelance attorney group in Texas. She earned her J.D. at the University of Texas School of Law.
Each academic year, the best moment occurs mid-summer when students share their successes writing and researching in the workplace. Hearing that students are able to transfer the skills they learn in my class into practice makes the hours of feedback and unrelentingly high expectations worthwhile.”
Education
J.D., University of Texas School of Law
B.A., Grinnell College
Experience
Mitchell Hamline School of Law: professor of law, 2023–; associate professor of law, 2020–23
University of North Texas Dallas College of Law: assistant professor and director of legal writing
Gardere Wynne Sewell, Dallas: intake attorney and director of information services, 2015
ReLegal Group, San Antonio: founder, owner, and freelance attorney, 2013–15
King & Spalding, Washington, D.C.: associate attorney, 2002–06
Awards and recognition
Trail Blazer Award, UNT Dallas, 2018
Association of Legal Writing Directors teaching grant, 2017–18
