Melissa Michaelis Thompson is the Executive Director of the Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel, an independent judicial agency tasked with providing lawyers to indigent parents in child welfare proceedings in Colorado. Prior to the ORPC, Melissa last served as a Lead Attorney at the Colorado State Public Defender’s Pueblo Regional Office. There, she defended the rights of indigent defendants for nearly seven years, supervised juvenile and adult felony district court divisions, and served as the public defender member of the Behavior Health Treatment Court. She has presented trainings on child welfare, juvenile, and criminal defense topics across the state and country. In 2013, she was honored by the Pueblo County Bar Association with the Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year award for Professional, Civic, and Charitable Participation and Contributions to the Community of Pueblo, Colorado for her work litigating the unshackling of children in juvenile court. She serves on the National Steering Committee for the American Bar Association’s Alliance for Parent Representation. She is a graduate of the Family Defense Leadership Workshop at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the Trial Practice Institute at the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia. Melissa received her J.D. from Wayne State University Law School, where she was an assistant editor of the Wayne Law Review, and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan with Distinction. Melissa lives in Douglas County with her husband, son, and dog.