Melissa Dove

Controller

 

At Reilly Pozner LLP, we are creative team players—on both offense and defense. We proudly represent both plaintiffs and defendants in complex civil and criminal litigation in courts around the country. Melissa Dove is the firm’s controller.

In this capacity, Melissa is responsible for the firm’s accounting and financial reporting functions and its retirement plan—“anything with a number.” She set up the necessary systems and controls at the firm’s creation in 2000. Before Reilly Pozner took information technology in-house, she managed the firm’s outside IT vendor.

Prior to joining the firm, Melissa managed a staff of 15 as controller at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP. She also worked as a senior accountant at Columbia Savings Bank and as an auditor for Coopers & Lybrand.

Melissa is a certified public accountant who earned her undergraduate degree in business from Indiana University in Bloomington. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Association of Legal Administrators.

As controller of Reilly Pozner, Melissa has many financial responsibilities—which constantly evolve along with the firm’s changing priorities.

 

  • Currently, the firm is doing an increasing amount of work on a contingency fee rather than an hourly basis – which can make the budget process more complex. When the firm meets to consider a potential representation, Melissa participates to weigh in on how that case would affect the hourly fee/contingency fee balance..
  • In the current economy, clients are asking their law firms to look for ways to control costs – especially in complex civil and commercial litigation. As one way of accomplishing this goal, Melissa is looking at the use of document review vendors to cut costs for certain complex, multiparty, multidistrict cases.

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    “I like the fact that Reilly Pozner is talented enough and creative enough to get great results for clients in really difficult, complex cases, but is small enough so that each of us knows everyone else—quite well. The culture and benefits are second to none. Playing a role in this very successful firm since creation is an experience I will never forget.”