R. Melissa Weitzel joins Grant Konvalinka and Harrison as a first-year associate eager to explore. An academic at heart, Weitzel says she welcomes the vast learning that accompanies entering a law firm.
While other firms require attorneys to select one or two specializations, Weitzel says, GKH allows every attorney to explore any arena – and gives them the immediate responsibility to do so.
“It’s a great opportunity to grow your practice and eventually find your niche,” she says.
As someone who works in a variety of sectors and hasn’t yet found her specialty, Weitzel takes every day as a learning experience and a new adventure.
Law itself has been an adventure for Weitzel, who came to the field somewhat by accident.
After graduating from Mississippi State with political science and history degrees, Weitzel followed her now-wife Megan to Chattanooga. Weitzel ran grocery delivery “just trying to figure it out” until she unexpectedly received a job posting for a runner position at GKH. Following a year as a runner, Weitzel rose to a legal assistant position at the firm.
“It gave me a path to explore,” says Weitzel, who entered Vanderbilt Law School a year later in 2020.
Starting law school as a first-generation lawyer during the COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges, Weitzel says.
“Everything shutdown, so the support was not as present. And you can’t just call Dad and ask him, ‘Hey, the director said this to me.’ And he can say, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it.’ You don’t have that gauge.”
But despite having no family connection to law, Weitzel earned her degree and returned to GKH as a full-time associate. “That’s what’s really great about GKH – they took a shot on me. And then they took a shot on me again.
“I’m very, very grateful to them. It does still feel like I’m figuring it out. Because it’s hard. It’s hard to be a lawyer.”
After three years of law school, Weitzel says she couldn’t wait to return to Chattanooga. She says that although it’s growing, the Scenic City is still a small town at heart – warm, welcoming and beautiful.
“Coming from Nashville, we never really got that community,” she says. “It felt unsafe where we were living. And the traffic was soul-crushing. Here, it’s not like that.”
Since moving back to Chattanooga, Weitzel has joined the area’s Young Lawyers Division and the Southeastern Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women. Weitzel says the organizations allow her to meet people outside work and build a community. Through events and clinics, they also give members the chance to teach and learn from one another.
“A lot of women at the firm are part of SETLAW,” Weitzel says, including Hollie Floberg, her professional mentor. “I run things by her, stuff like understanding interpersonal relationships, how technology works, how to find something. She’s great.”
With three older full siblings and two older stepsiblings, Weitzel says she has always had people who guide her.
“I feel very privileged to be the youngest of my family,” she says. By watching her siblings go through college and life, Weitzel says she learned how to make her way in the world and fight for herself.
Weitzel says her least favorite part about being a lawyer would be the uncertainty. In law school and life, Weitzel says, lawyers don’t receive validation or confirmation of their work.
“There is no answer,” she says. “And so, as someone who is very motivated and wants to do really well, it’s difficult. You don’t always get to that 100% endpoint, and that unknown can be scary.”
Weitzel says she loves the rare satisfaction of knowing with certainty that she did good work. “When I know what I’m doing on something, that’s a good feeling.”
Once the youth governor of Mississippi, Weitzel has often pursued public service. She has interned with USAID and the United States Air Force and even pursued a legal career with the Army. Weitzel says that helping people infuses her with a sense of purpose.
Melissa Weitzel – “Mellie” to friends and family – says she strives to be a positive force in the world. She describes herself as someone genuine, kind and, Weitzel laughs, well-intentioned, which she calls “important, especially in a field that can be contentious and competitive.”
Weitzel says her curiosity and love for learning are integral to her career but that she’s still adjusting to life beyond academia. “I’m a scholar at heart,” she says.
Weitzel seeks out every opportunity to learn more about other cultures and world history. When caught reading, Weitzel is often holding a history book. She is especially interested in 1990s to 2000s American history and 15th- to 18th-century English history. “I’m a history buff, like I love history, I love the stories, I love the narratives.”
To immerse in other cultures, Weitzel says she loves to experience new foods, whether at restaurants or in her kitchen. She also loves to travel. Having studied abroad and visited countries in western Europe, Weitzel hopes to travel somewhere new soon – to see family in Paris, she says, or maybe Japan.
When abroad, Weitzel enjoys the occasional opportunity to dust off her Russian.
“When I visited my brother and his wife in Paris, I would hear it on the street. One time, someone came up to me, and he was speaking a mix of Russian and English, and I got to use it.”
Weitzel began learning Russian in college and still practices every day.
In her free time – “what free time?” she jokes – Weitzel can be found with her loved ones, at the gym or “just decompressing to feel like a little bit of a human.”
Weitzel also enjoys watching sports, especially college football.
“I am a huge Mississippi State fan, which is not shocking since I was a sports writer there for a brief period,” she says.
Before Weitzel worked in journalism or law, she dreamed of becoming an astrophysicist. She says she has always been curious about science, space and everything beyond us, so astrophysics seemed like the perfect direction.
“But then I took AP Calculus in high school. And I remember sitting down with my teacher, and I really struggled, and my teacher was like, ‘If you’re struggling now, you’re really going to struggle in astrophysics.’ So I took the hint.”
At Vanderbilt, Weitzel channeled her fascination into the school’s space law society and remains interested in space law treaties.
In her office at GKH, Weitzel has a space-themed James Webb calendar, an enormous whiteboard with her list of work, a Monet print from the firm (“Le Bassin d’Argenteuil”) and pictures of her partner Megan.
Melissa Weitzel lives with her partner and their beloved cats – “and they’re great,” she says, “and I love them, but it would be nice to have a menagerie.”
In an ideal world, Weitzel says they would live in a secluded cabin out in nature. “Away from the hustle and bustle, in a nonworking world, where we could just have dogs and cats and animals and live on a farm in the woods. I would definitely do that.” She adds: “With my books.”