Melissa J. Davey was appointed a Standing Chapter 13 Trustee in the Northern District of Georgia for the Atlanta and Newnan divisions in 2017.  Her office administers thousands of Chapter 13 cases assigned to the Honorable Lisa Ritchey Craig, the Honorable Paul M. Baisier and the Honorable Wendy L. Hagenau.  Prior to her appointment, she was in private practice in Atlanta as a Member of Stites & Harbison, PLLC in their Creditors’ Rights and Bankruptcy Group. At Stites, Melissa’s practice focused primarily on representing institutional lenders and other creditors in bankruptcy and consumer and commercial litigation.  Prior to joining Stites and Harbison, Melissa was a Staff Attorney for a Chapter 13 Trustee in the Northern District of Georgia for more than six years.  She has also previously represented debtors in bankruptcy.   Melissa earned her J.D. from the Emory University School of Law in 2003.  Melissa attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where she graduated magna cum laude with honors with a B.A. in Political Science and French.  During her junior year, she studied at the Sorbonne and the Institut Catholique de Paris. Melissa is very active in local and national bar organizations.  She is currently Treasurer of the National Association of Chapter 13 Trustee.  Additionally, Melissa serves on the Bench and Bar Committee for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia and was previously the Chair of the Committee.  Melissa also serves on the Advisory Board for ABI’s Southeastern Bankruptcy Institute and is a Barrister in the W. Homer Drake, Jr. Georgia Bankruptcy American Inn of Court. In the past, she served as president/officer for the Bankruptcy Section of the Atlanta Bar Association, a Co-Chair of the Georgia Network of the International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, and President of the Metro Atlanta Consumer Bankruptcy Attorney Group.