Melissa McCullough Zierden grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. It was there, in 1988, that she began a distinguished first career in law enforcement. Appointed to three different state law enforcement agencies over several years, Melissa served as a Criminal Intelligence Analyst and received over 50 commendations from her commanders. With her last assignment being at the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud, Melissa became familiar with every line of insurance and assisted in the prosecution of both first and third-party insurance fraud perpetrated against insurance carriers and self-insureds.

In 1997, she left law enforcement to attend law school. While there, she was elected to serve the student body as President of the Student Bar Association. Under her leadership, the American Bar Association named it the best law school student government in the United States. Melissa began her legal career as an assistant state attorney for Florida’s Sixth (6th) Judicial Circuit and eventually left for private practice. She litigates large complex losses involving Premises and Products Liability. Melissa served as a risk management and litigation consultant to several Fortune 500 corporations on their major cases or bad faith insurer conduct. She is a skilled negotiator and has tried 20 cases to verdict.