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Adams and Reese is pleased to announce the following attorneys who have been elected to Partner, effective January 1, 2015: Adam Massey, Houston Office; and Melissa Rizzo, Tampa Office.

Adam Massey is a member of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group and has been practicing law since 2008. His work focuses primarily on complex commercial litigation and tort litigation. Massey has been named among Texas Super Lawyers® Rising Stars (by Thomson Reuters) in Litigation 2014-2015. Massey serves as Adjunct Professor of Advocacy for South Texas College of Law. Prior to joining Adams and Reese, Massey worked as an independent petroleum landman. Massey graduated magna cum laude from South Texas College of Law in 2008. During law school, he served as a law clerk for United States District Court Judge Sim Lake of the Southern District of Texas. He earned his B.A., in 2004, from the University of Texas.

Melissa Rizzo is a member of the Firm’s Special Business Services Practice Group and practices primarily on intellectual property matters, including the litigation of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret disputes. Practicing law since 2009, she also has litigation experience in a variety of other commercial areas, including real property, contract, unfair competition, and related business disputes. Rizzo has patent prosecution experience before the United States Patent and Trademark Office in a variety of technical fields, including the chemical, electrical, mechanical, and biomedical arts. She also regularly represents clients in trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Prior to attending law school, Rizzo used her chemical engineering degree to work as a process engineer for an oil refinery. Rizzo then chose a legal career and attended law school at Stetson University College of Law, earning her J.D., summa cum laude, and graduating first in her law school class in 2008. She earned her B.S. from Purdue University, in 2003.

Adams and Reese is a multidisciplinary law firm with more than 300 attorneys and advisors strategically located in 16 offices in 15 markets throughout the southern United States and Washington, D.C. American Lawyer includes Adams and Reese on its distinguished list of the nation's top law firms - "The Am Law 200". The National Law Journal also includes the firm on the "NLJ 350" list of the nation's largest law firms.