Mel Fowler-Green

Mel has been an employment and civil rights attorney for over 20 years. Her educational, professional and life experiences provide her with valuable insight and make her a particularly well-suited advocate for workers’ rights. Mel is a first-generation college graduate from Flint Michigan, the daughter of a proud UAW family, and she believes that everyone – no matter who they are or where they’re from – deserves respect and dignity in their work.

Prior to joining the Yezbak Law Offices, Mel was the Managing Attorney at Southern Migrant Legal Services, a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, where she represented thousands of migrant and low-wage workers throughout the South and Midwest. She also served as the first Legal Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and spent seven years as the Executive Director of the Metro Human Relations Commission. Mel has frequently provided training for the Tennessee Association for Legal Services, the National Migrant Advocacy Conference, and the Tennessee Fair Housing Matters Conference, among others. She has given dozens of guest lectures, keynote addresses, and trainings at a wide variety of legal, civic, and educational organizations. She has been published in numerous legal treatises, law journals, and newspapers, including as a contributing author to the wage and hour law treatise Wage and Hour Laws: A State-by-State Survey (BNA Books) and The Family Medical Leave Act treatise (BNA Books).

Over the course of her career, in addition to representing thousands of workers in federal litigation, Mel has been a recognized advocate for fair housing and LGBTQ rights. She has also conciliated a range of conflicts to help parties reach consensus over difficult issues, particularly in settings where conflicts are driven by differences in identity, beliefs, and values; led dozens of trainings, panel discussions, workshops, and seminars related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and conflict management; spearheaded multiple community-led research projects and evidence-based policy recommendations for leaders in all levels of government. Mel has taught adjunct for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati and for the Graduate Program for Leadership and Public Service at Lipscomb University.

Before graduating cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, Mel was the Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy. Prior to law school, she obtained an interdisciplinary M.A. in Women’s Studies from the University of Cincinnati (where she studied the intersection of race and gender), and a B.A. in Theatre from University of Michigan-Flint. She still thinks theatre is the best preparation for any career.