Melissa Hillhouse is a paralegal who provides comprehensive legal support — from inception to trial — to trial lawyers whose practices are concentrated on defending insurance carriers in coverage disputes and bad faith litigation in state and federal courts. Her responsibilities in managing large caseloads include conducting research; drafting pleadings, discovery correspondence, detailed chronologies, and deposition summaries; efficiently sorting, categorizing and analyzing large amounts of legal documents and data; vetting experts and other witnesses; performing jury verdict research; compiling and organizing documents and exhibits; docketing; and preparing for and assisting attorneys in depositions and at mediations, jury and non-jury trials, and research trials. Over the course of her career, she has developed particular expertise and skills handling all aspects of the discovery process as well as utilizing legal research, case management, and trial presentation software.
The Tulsa native began her legal career in 1999 as a file clerk for a small Oklahoma-based personal injury firm and, after discovering her love for the legal field, worked her way up through the ranks, ultimately becoming a paralegal just a few years later. Since then, she has worked for a number of Oklahoma-based law firms — both plaintiff and defense firms — exclusively in the area of civil litigation, gaining valuable hands-on case management and legal experience in areas of insurance, employment litigation, personal injury, medical malpractice, premises liability, professional liability, and other tort litigation. Her early years handling plaintiff work equipped her with unique perspectives and insights, which she leverages in her current role working exclusively for defense counsel.