After winning election on May 21, 2024, attorney Melissa Gifford Hise was sworn in on Friday, December 20, 2024 by retiring Chief Judge Kristina Cook Graham as the new Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge. Judge Graham announced her retirement in January after serving in the position for 32 years. Hise once served as law clerk to Graham and Judges Joseph B. Tucker, Jon Bolling Wood, and Wm. Ralph Hill, Jr. The Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit is comprised of Chattooga, Walker, Dade, and Catoosa Counties. Hise will make her office at the Chattooga County Courthouse in Summerville, Georgia where Judge Graham has presided during her term.
Hise is a 1986 graduate of Chattanooga Valley High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Mercer University and a law degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.
She began her career at the law firm of Watson and Dana in LaFayette, Georgia in 1993. Hise founded Four Points, Inc., a non-profit, tax-exempt agency that provides services to families involved in domestic violence in 1996. After heading Four Points for 15 years, Hise joined the Walker County Magistrate Court where she was an associate judge. In 2012, Hise returned to practicing law full-time with Summerville attorney Albert C. Palmour at Palmour Law Firm and is currently a part-time associate judge with the Walker County Magistrate Court. In 2020, Hise became a Registered Mediator for the Courts in civil, domestic and juvenile matters. Hise has extensive trial experience in both civil and criminal matters in State and Federal courts.