Melanie M. Ellwanger

Melanie McCorkle Ellwanger is a criminal and civil litigation attorney for Atlanta law firm Head, Thomas, Webb & Willis, LLC. Ms. Ellwanger’s specialties include DUI defense and personal injury law as well as misdemeanor and felony criminal defense.

Ms. Ellwanger’s education began at the Women’s College of Brenau where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Studies and Conflict Resolution with honors. During this time, she was a member of the Phi Beta Sigma and Gamma Sigma Alpha Honor Societies. Because of her high level of scholastic achievement, Ms. Ellwanger was honored with the Brenau Scholar Award. She was also involved with the community through her participating with the Brenau University Leadership Program.

Ms. Ellwanger received her law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law. She worked as a law clerk with Andrew, Merritt, Reilly & Smith in Lawrenceville, GA during her first and second summer in law school. Through this clerk position, Ms. Ellwanger gained experience in probate and estate planning as well as corporate law. During her last summer in law school, Ms. Ellwanger was a Summer Associate with Whelchel and Dunlap in Gainesville, GA where she focused on civil and criminal law.

Before joining Head, Thomas, Webb & Willis, LLC, Ms. Ellwanger was an Assistant Solicitor at the Forsyth County Solicitor General’s Office. While at this position, she prosecuted over 1,000 criminal cases involving domestic violence, traffic charges, driving under the influence, and other crimes. Ms. Ellwanger was also the prosecutor for the county’s DUI court program. She became certified in NHTSA Detection and Field Sobriety Testing by attending several police officer training courses. Prior to accepting her position with the Solicitor’s Office, she was a law clerk and investigative assistant at the Hall County Public Defender’s Office in Gainesville, GA.

Ms. Ellwanger took part in many law enforcement training courses that includes completion of the Practitioner's Course for the NHTSA DUI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) Program, in which she earned a Certificate of Completion. When she started with Head, Thomas, Webb & Willis, LLC in March of 2010, she has joined the National College for DUI Defense (www.NCDD.com) and has finished a detailed, week long forensic breath testing course in Atlanta. In July of 2010, she went to the NCDD Summer Session that was held at Harvard University School of Law in Cambridge, MA.

Melanie was also a speaker at a state-wide Georgia DUI Seminar sponsored by Georgia's largest non-profit continuing legal education provider, the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Georgia (www.iclega.org) in May of 2010. She is currently an associate member of the Georgia DODD (Defense of Drinking Drivers) statewide "think tank" organization.

Ms. Ellwanger is currently working with Senior Partner William C. Head on a new treatise regarding civil law that will be published in Fall of 2010 by Thomson-Reuters (West Publishing).

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