ATTORNEY HISE ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY

​Local attorney Melissa Gifford Hise announces her campaign to succeed Judge Kristina Cook Graham as Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge. Judge Graham announced her retirement earlier this week, which will become effective at the end of her term on December 31, 2024, thus leaving her seat open to election by the voters during Georgia’s May 21, 2024 general primary/nonpartisan election.

​Mrs. Hise is a former law clerk for the superior court Judges of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, which includes Chattooga, Catoosa, Dade and Walker Counties.

​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.

​Hise is an active member of the Rock Spring, Georgia community, where she lives with her husband Mark Hise, plant manager for Lafayette’s United Synthetics, Inc., a division of Stein Fibers, and their two children. They are members of Lafayette United Methodist Church.

​“I am asking for your vote on May 21for Superior Court Judge so I can put my experience to work for everyone in our communities,” said Hise.    “Just as I do on the Magistrate Court bench, I will follow the rule of law and enforce our common community values on the Superior Court bench.”