Butler Snow LLP

Regulatory & Government - Practice Group Leader

Melvin Malone serves as the Firm’s Regulatory and Government Practice Group Leader, and focuses his work on telecommunications, public utilities, governmental relations, commercial litigation and administrative law. He led the Firm’s efforts on diversity and inclusivity from 2016 through 2020.

Melvin serves clients in regulatory matters primarily in Tennessee, but has also assisted clients from time to time in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi. He serves utility clients, including, among others, water, telecommunications, broadband, cable/video and energy providers. Melvin has successfully litigated on behalf of Tennessee’s only privately-owned water provider, a regional financial institution, a global wireless communications company, the nation’s largest three-service public utility, a national automotive finance company, and a coalition of Tennessee telephone cooperatives. Melvin has also successfully litigated on behalf of a coalition of over 200 retail fuel providers in an alternative fuel anti-competition case.

Melvin’s work on governmental relations spans many industries, including healthcare, insurance, higher education, procurement, telecommunications, utilities, automotive, infrastructure and taxes, economic development, and technology.

Due to his prior public service as Deputy Counsel to the Governor and Chairman of the Tennessee Public Utility Commission, along with his previous engagements on a host of public policy matters, Melvin is often sought out by state leaders to provide insight, observations and counsel on various legislative and regulatory initiatives. Melvin is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and his work has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America® and Mid-South Super Lawyers®.

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam appointed Melvin to serve as a Special Justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2014 to hear a case from which four Supreme Court justices recused themselves. In 2013, Governor Haslam appointed Melvin to the Board of Directors for the TPAC Management Corporation, and he was subsequently re-appointed by Governor Lee. The Nashville Post named Melvin in “Nashville’s Top 101 Lawyers” and “In Charge” for the legal industry. Additionally, he is Chair Emeritus for 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee, Inc. and Tennessee State University’s Foundation Board of Trustees. He also currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Memorial Foundation.

Melvin obtained his J.D. from the University of Tennessee and is admitted to the Tennessee State Bar, the U.S. District Courts for all districts of Tennessee and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.