Melissa Hill is a native of  Asheville, North Carolina. She received her B.A. degree, magna cum laude, as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1984. She also attended law school at UNC,  where she was admitted to the Order of the Coif, was on the North Carolina Law Review and received her J.D. with honors in 1987.

Ms. Hill  is the author of Tennessee v. Garner – The Use of Deadly Force to  Arrest as an Unreasonable Search and Seizure, 65 N.C.L. Rev. 155 (1986);  and Branch Banking & Trust Company v. Wright – Creditors  Rights to Entireties Property Awarded to Nondebtor Spouse Upon Divorce,  64 N.C.L. Rev. 1471 (1986).

Ms. Hill joined Tharrington Smith in 1987 and practices criminal and civil litigation in state and federal courts  in North Carolina as well as in other states.  She has earned the top rating (AV®) in Martindale Hubbell. She is a member of the  North Carolina Advocates for Justice, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Wake County Academy of Criminal Trial Lawyers, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the American, North Carolina, and Wake County bar associations, and formerly served as an officer on the North Carolina Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Council. 

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