The Lawyer Who Landlords Don’t Want to See in Court
Mark Melton stands in the eye of a storm, a waiting area outside the 1-1 Justice of the Peace Court, in the South Dallas Government Center, an uninspiring building off Interstate 20. Two other lawyers whip around the room, clutching clipboards and trying to reach about two dozen tenants in the next 20 or so minutes before court is called into session. Two legal assistants sit at a card table, hurrying through paperwork with clients. Melton, a partner at Holland & Knight who specializes in tax law, has the height and build of an edge rusher, one who prefers Maker’s Mark to protein shakes, with a charcoal beard and a fleeing hairline. Today, he’s wearing a tailored navy blue suit with a baby blue tie, a lighter blue dress shirt, and black Oxfords. If the outfit doesn’t make it clear enough, Melton, 46, is perched near a sign that reads, in English and Spanish, “FREE ATTORNEY FOR TENANTS.”
Sixty-one cases are on this Friday’s eviction docket. Years of data show that without an attorney arguing their case, nearly all of them will lose their apartments in a matter of minutes. The attorneys are here to stop that, if they can.
“This is a well-oiled machine now,” Melton says, still avoiding the fray. “I think I’ll fuck it up if I jump in.”
The machine is the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center, a team of 10 lawyers and seven support staffers. Housing experts have not been able to find another operation like it in the entire country. Legal Aid works in the same space but is federally funded and far more limited in terms of whom it can serve. Melton started this work with his wife, Lauren, in the first week of the pandemic. It began as a Facebook post to