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The Melton Law Firm: Dual Board Certified, in Both Employment Law and Civil Trial Law

John F. Melton holds two separate Texas Board of Legal Specialization certifications — Labor and Employment Law since 2008, and Civil Trial Law — a combination that few employment attorneys in this category can claim. The dual certification reflects a practice that spills over into complex personal injury litigation (truck and auto accidents referred by former clients and other attorneys) alongside his core employment work.

At a Glance: Austin Employment Lawyer Firm Overview

I. An Austin Native, Twenty-Five Years in Practice

John Melton is an Austin native who earned his B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1996, then his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1999, serving as Comment Editor of the San Diego Law Review. He returned to Austin immediately after graduation, was licensed the same year, and has practiced continuously in Austin since. He previously partnered at Melton & Kumler before founding The Melton Law Firm in 2014.

II. Two Board Certifications, Independently Confirmed

Texas Bar rules prohibit any attorney from advertising as a “specialist” unless board certified in that specialty by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization (TBLS) or an accredited certifying organization. Melton holds TBLS certification in Labor and Employment Law since 2008 and a separate TBLS certification in Civil Trial Law — both confirmed across multiple independent sources beyond the firm’s own site. The Civil Trial Law certification supports his secondary personal injury practice, distinct from his primary employment work.

III. Practice Concentration: What This Austin Employment Attorney Firm Handles

Melton represents employees in discrimination claims (race, gender, and age), sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and overtime and wage disputes under the FLSA, including class action overtime litigation. He has also developed a secondary reputation handling more complex personal injury matters — trucking accidents, auto accidents, and similar cases — referred to him by former clients and other attorneys, a pattern of referral-based growth that suggests trust within the local legal community.

IV. Track Record

Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Employment settlements are frequently confidential, which limits what any firm can publish about individual case values.

The firm’s own materials describe verdicts and settlements “totaling in the millions of dollars” across overtime class actions, discrimination lawsuits, sexual harassment claims, and personal injury matters, without naming specific case citations or itemized figures. Awesome Attorneys did not identify independently sourced case results to verify these aggregate claims; this is a genuine gap in the public record for a 25-year practice, disclosed here directly rather than repeated as verified fact.

V. Client Voice

Client testimonials on the firm’s site are positive. One client wrote: “John and his team were very professional, took my case seriously and fulfilled my every expectation to the end!” Another, a repeat client, wrote: “John has been my attorney for several years. Most recently John and his paralegal Paige helped me win a fair settlement from a previous employer. His knowledge of the law and attention to detail were second to none.” Awesome Attorneys did not identify a negative review for this firm among the sources checked; these are firm-published testimonials rather than independently aggregated review platform data, and are presented as such.

VI. Beyond the Courtroom

Melton is a Fellow Member of the Texas Bar Foundation, an honor the Foundation extends to roughly the top one percent of Texas legal practitioners, and belongs to the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the Capital Area Trial Lawyers Association.

VII. Recognition

Peer-reviewed and independently conferred credentials: dual Texas Board of Legal Specialization certification in Labor and Employment Law and Civil Trial Law; Super Lawyers selection every year since 2011 (14+ consecutive years), via Thomson Reuters’ peer-review process; Texas Bar Foundation Fellow status.

No marketing-program-only awards beyond those listed above were identified for this firm at the time of writing.

VIII. The Texas Legal Backdrop

Texas is an at-will employment state, with discrimination and retaliation claims running through Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA federally and the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act (Texas Labor Code Chapter 21) at the state level, requiring a Texas Workforce Commission charge within 180 days. Overtime class actions, a core part of this firm’s practice, proceed as FLSA collective actions rather than traditional Rule 23 class actions, requiring workers to affirmatively opt in, with a two-year limitations period (three years for willful violations). The federal minimum wage and overtime thresholds under the FLSA have been revised multiple times over the past two decades, a history the firm’s own materials specifically track.

IX. Awesome Attorneys Assessment: Weighing This Austin Employment Lawyer

This firm’s clearest strength is Melton’s dual board certification — holding both Labor and Employment Law and Civil Trial Law certifications from TBLS is a genuinely rare combination that signals depth in courtroom litigation specifically, not just subject-matter knowledge. Combined with 14+ consecutive years of Super Lawyers recognition and Texas Bar Foundation Fellow status, his professional credentials are well above average for this category.

The fair caveat: despite a 25-year practice and claimed “millions of dollars” in aggregate verdicts and settlements, Awesome Attorneys could not identify itemized, independently verifiable case results to confirm specific outcomes. The firm’s personal injury referral practice, while a sign of professional trust, also means employment law is not the firm’s exclusive focus, which prospective clients should factor into their expectations.

X. Methodology & Sourcing

This profile was compiled from the firm’s own website (jfmeltonlaw.com), including its About the Firm and attorney biography pages; Yelp’s business listing; and Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute attorney directory, used to independently cross-check licensing and credential details. Case narratives, client counts, and awards are the firm’s own published claims unless independently sourced and attributed as such. Statutory citations were checked against the Texas Labor Code and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. No case results, credentials, or quotes were invented.

Publisher Disclosure & Independence Notice

Awesome Attorneys is an independent legal directory and editorial publication. This profile was not paid for, commissioned, or reviewed by The Melton Law Firm prior to publication. Awesome Attorneys may in the future offer sponsored placements clearly labeled as such, but no payment of any kind determines inclusion in, or the content of, this editorial profile. This article is for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and The Melton Law Firm or Awesome Attorneys.