© 2012 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
He’s a tax lawyer at Hunton & Williams in Dallas. He’s an adjunct lecturer at SMU’s Cox School of Business. He’s the chair of several local charity organizations. He’s a loving husband and a father of three. Oh, and he’s this year’s recipient of the DAYL Foundation Fellows Award of Excellence.
Who is he? He’s Mark Melton.
The award goes out to members of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers who have made a positive impact on the Dallas community outside of their work as lawyers. Melton is being recognized for his extensive commitment to improving local public education. One example is his role as chair for EducateDallas, and his substantial work on the public education reform movement in Dallas.
Melton also currently serves as chair of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Young Leaders Society and Food for Thought; the immediate past chair of the Dallas County Junior Board for Big Brothers and Big Sisters; the past chair for various DBA and DAYL committees on public education; an executive committee member on the board of directors for Big Thought; and is a regular speaker, tutor and mentor to Dallas ISD students.
In addition to his community involvement, he commits at least 100 hours of pro bono service to the indigent.
Melton said that pro bono work is such an important part of being a lawyer because it gives attorneys the power to truly make a difference in people’s lives.
“You have a lot of power to really turn around and do a lot of good for people, [but] it’s your choice on whether to do that or not,” he said. “If you have the power to decide whose problems to fix and whose to not, then you have to take that power very seriously.”
Melton’s practice focuses on federal income taxation issues related to domestic and international transactions, primarily for private equity funds, hedge funds and multi-national corporations. Some of his recent work has involved fundraising for a private equity fund, debt restructuring with clients, acquisitions with various fund groups and advising clients who are expatriating on related tax matters.
When asked how he has the time to juggle all of his commitments, Melton said he has a knack for cutting out extraneous details, multitasking, and running on little sleep. But it’s easy to tell that he truly enjoys everything he does.
“When I first moved to Texas and was married with two kids and was flat broke, I really had to depend on charity and a lot of other people looking out for me,” Melton said. “I recognized where help was coming from and it’s important at some level to turn around and help the next guy up the ladder as well.”
The DAYL Foundation will present the award to Melton at its annual luncheon on Dec. 13 at 11:30 a.m. in the Belo Mansion. The keynote speaker at the event will be Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman.
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