Biography

Wayne S. Melnick litigates and tries cases in both state and federal courts throughout the state of Georgia. Mr. Melnick was chosen as one of Atlanta Magazine‘s Rising Stars among Super Lawyers for 2006 and 2009.

Mr. Melnick’s civil defense practice involves property and casualty claims litigated in state and federal courts, including products liability, premises liability and automobile and motor carrier accidents. He further handles multi-district litigation involving toxic tort claims.

Mr. Melnick often advises and represents insurers on matters of insurance coverage, prosecutes declaratory judgment actions for insurers and defends actions filed against insurers in both state and federal courts. He also prosecutes large and complex subrogation cases for insurers.

Mr. Melnick further represents public and private employers in employment and constitutional based cases. He has and continues to represent many county and municipal school systems, independent and charter schools in Georgia in cases involving student supervision and discipline and teacher and administrator employment practices.

Mr. Melnick has handled many appellate cases at the state and federal levels. Please refer to the cases listed under Representative Published Opinions section below. He is admitted to practice law in the following jurisdictions: all Superior and State Courts in Georgia, the Georgia Court of Appeals, the Georgia Supreme Court, the Northern District of Georgia, the Middle District of Georgia, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, all Circuit and County Courts in Florida, all Florida District Courts of Appeals, the Florida Supreme Court, and the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Melnick graduated from Emory University in 1990, and received his law degree from the Emory University School of Law in 1993. After graduating from Emory law, Mr. Melnick served as a law clerk with the Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia serving as clerk to both The Honorable W. Homer Drake, Jr., Bankruptcy Judge and The Honorable A. David Kahn, Chief Bankruptcy Judge. Thereafter, and while practicing law, Mr. Melnick has served as a litigation instructor at Emory University School of Law in the Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program.

Following his time as a federal law clerk, Mr. Melnick maintained an active practice in criminal defense which saw him act as lead defense counsel in over fifty jury trials throughout Georgia and Florida. Mr. Melnick has defended all levels of criminal cases from misdemeanors through capital crimes. He still maintains an active criminal defense practice.

Mr. Melnick was awarded many honors while in law school, including winning the American Jurisprudence Awards for both Contracts and Entertainment Law. He was also on Dean’s List multiple times and was a Notes and Comments Editor for the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal.

Mr. Melnick is the author of Suppression of Identity: Has the Supreme Court Carved Yet Another Exception to the Exclusionary Rule?, 9 Fla. Defender 24 (1997) which was cited by the Florida Supreme Court as the basis for its opinion in State v. Perkins, 760 So. 2d 85 (Fla. 2000). He has also authored numerous seminar papers presented at legal seminars on a variety of legal topics.

Mr. Melnick is a member of the State Bar of Georgia, the Defense Research Institute and Georgia Defense Lawyers Association where he is the chairperson of its highly successful Education Committee. Mr. Melnick is also a member of the Florida Bar Association.

Mr. Melnick was born in Southampton, NY and raised in Dix Hills, NY before he moved to Atlanta at age 18. Wayne is married to the former Laura Bush and has two sons, Xander and Joss. The Melnicks are members of and attend Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta, Georgia where Wayne serves on the Board of Directors. In the past, Mr. Melnick has served as the Chairperson for his subdivision’s Architectural Control Committee.