Dallas Law Firm Shackelford, Melton & McKinley Builds Bankruptcy Expertise With Latest Addition

April 26, 2010 - PRLog -- DALLAS – The Dallas law firm of Shackelford, Melton & McKinley, LLP, is pleased to announce the addition of accomplished bankruptcy attorney Frances A. Smith, current president of the DFW Association of Young Bankruptcy Lawyers.

Ms. Smith’s practice at Shackelford, Melton & McKinley is devoted to representing debtors, secured lenders, unsecured creditor committees and asset purchasers in bankruptcy proceedings throughout Texas and across the United States.

“Frances is not only among the top young bankruptcy attorneys in Dallas, but a leader as well,” says John Shackelford, a founding partner of Shackelford, Melton & McKinley. “We are very pleased that she has joined our firm.”

Ms. Smith joins Shackelford, Melton & McKinley as Of Counsel from the Dallas office of Haynes and Boone, LLP. Prior to entering private practice, she served as a judicial clerk in 2001-2002 for the Hon. Barbara J. Houser, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Texas.

In addition to serving as president of the DFW Association of Young Bankruptcy Lawyers, Ms. Smith serves as a board member of the Dallas/Fort Worth Network of the International Women’s Insolvency and Reorganization Confederation. She is a member of the Dallas Bar Association Bankruptcy Section and the Bankruptcy Section of the Tarrant County Bar Association.

Ms. Smith earned her law degree, with honors, from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law in 2001. While at SMU, she served as comments editor of the Southern Methodist University Law Review. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, with highest honors, from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1998. In both 2005 and 2006, she was honored in the Texas Rising Stars listing published by Texas Super Lawyers, a service of the Thomson Reuters, Legal division, based on her work in Bankruptcy and Creditor/Debtor Rights.

Shackelford, Melton & McKinley, LLP, is a business and commercial law firm representing financial institutions, real estate owners and developers, automobile dealerships, and businesses in legal matters across the country. The firm’s attorneys offer a wide range of experience reflecting the increasingly complex legal, financial and social environments confronted by their clients. Learn more about the firm at www.shacklaw.net.