After an eight-year public service career with the Cleveland County District Attorney’s Office (1980-1983) and as Executive Director of the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission (1983-1987), Melvin joined the Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison & Lewis law firm on January 1, 1988. He was elected shareholder partner on January 1, 1992. Since joining the firm, Melvin has focused his practice on civil litigation of matters relating to employment law, business and commercial law, and civil rights law. Melvin has tried cases before administrative tribunals, in state district courts and in each of the three U.S. District Courts of Oklahoma. He has also argued several cases before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado.
In addition to his law practice, Melvin is a nationally sought-after speaker and lecturer on employment law and civil rights issues. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma teaching classes regarding employment law and the civil rights movement. Melvin was a featured speaker at the 2018 Office of Civil Rights Enforcement Employment Law Conference and the Guide to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Principals and Litigation Conference. Both conferences were held in Oklahoma City. Melvin also presented at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE) conference in New Orleans in 2018. Melvin has served on numerous boards and commissions such as a seven-year term as a regent on the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents from 1992 through 1999. Currently, Melvin serves on the LegalShield Board of Directors, the Arvest Bank Board of Directors, the Executive Committee of the Southwest Center for Human Relations Studies, the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) Board of Advocates, the Board of Visitors of the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and the Oklahoma Innocence Project Advisory Board.
Melvin is an AV rated attorney who has received numerous awards, honors and appointments. In 2019 Melvin was presented with the Oklahoma City Association of Black Lawyers, Opio Toure Champion of Justice Award. In 2017, Melvin was presented with the Spirit of the Community Award from the Fairview Missionary Baptist Church, and in 2013 he received the Oklahoma Bar Association Diversity Committee’s Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher Diversity Award.
Melvin received his Bachelor of Arts in Education degree from Langston University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma College Of Law. Both Langston University and the University of Oklahoma annually award scholarships that are named in honor of Melvin C. Hall.
