Boyd, Mary Margaret

If you were to call Melissa "wonder woman," you wouldn't be far off the mark. She worked full time while attending the University of Denver Law School at night. This included a variety of jobs from front desk clerk at a hotel to legal assistant at a law firm to admissions assistant at her school. She also held externships and participated as a volunteer in legal programs at the same time.

But did her grade point average suffer as a result of all of this? Not at all. She graduated with a 3.6 GPA. Of course, she was no stranger to hard work. She had already received an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona. After graduation, she discovered what she wanted to do with her law degree in South New Jersey, of all places. She was a judicial clerk for a family court judge there, and it solidified her desire to practice family law.

Melissa's experiences as a lawyer have mostly been smooth, but one very embarrassing moment sticks in her mind. During an opening statement in court, she accidentally said that the opposing party had "squashed" an order of protection instead of the proper word – quashed. Luckily, the judge thought it was hilarious, and the two of them had a good laugh over it.

Outside of the office, Melissa and her husband are foodies who particularly appreciate Asian cuisines, especially the small, "hole in the wall" types of restaurants. They love to travel but don't have the opportunity as much as they'd like. While in law school, Melissa spent a month in Beijing, China for a summer abroad program, which she calls a "humbling" experience.

In her spare time, Melissa enjoys photography and volunteering for organizations like Ask a Lawyer and Habitat for Humanity. She also loves to go to baseball games with her father; they try to make it to at least one Dbacks game a month.

People around the office call Melissa "funny," "compassionate," and "fair." She realizes that her clients are going through one of the hardest times of their lives, and she believes in complete honesty about what they can expect. She also firmly believes in communicating with her clients to keep them involved every step of the way. Of course, if Melissa is your attorney, you can be sure that she will try to help you reach a resolution outside of the court room if at all possible.