Melissa A. Hamer, Associate

Melissa A. Hamer, selected by her peers as an Indiana Super Lawyers Rising Star honoree in 2019, 2020, and 2021, is an associate at KGR and a member of the firm’s Construction and Environmental Law practice groups. In addition, she is a registered civil mediator. 

Her prior legal experience includes work as an attorney in E-discovery and ESI management. She was a clerk in Marion Superior Environmental Court under Judge David Certo. She was a clerk with the Civil Litigation Section of the Indiana Attorney General’s office and for Chief Administrative Law Judge Mary Davidsen with the Indiana Office of Environmental Adjudication. 

Melissa is a volunteer attorney for multiple projects through the Indianapolis Bar Association (IndyBar), the Indiana Bar Association, and the Indiana Bar Foundation. She has served on the Executive Committee for the Women and Law Division (WLD) of the IndyBar since 2017 and chaired the WLD Mentoring Program in 2018 and 2019. As of 2021, she is an at-large member of the IndyBar Insurance Coverage Section’s Executive Committee. She has been on the IndyBar Professionalism Committee’s Executive Committee since 2017. In 2020, Melissa was elected Membership Director of the Indianapolis Chapter of Women in E-Discovery. She also is the legal representative on the MSECA PFA workgroup. 

Melissa was elected to a four-year term beginning in 2020 to the Institute of Hazardous Materials Management’s (IHMM) National Board of Directors. She was elected to the IHMM Board’s Executive Committee in December 2020. The IHMM certifies and manages multiple hazardous and dangerous materials and occupational safety and health credentials. She is also a regular speaker on environmental law, including administrative laws and procedures, and construction and insurance coverage law. 

Melissa has been a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) since 2010 as an accredited under ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024, the International Standard for Personnel Certification Programs and The Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB). She is also an environmental professional, as defined in the Current ASTM E1527 standard for environmental and real estate due diligence

Melissa’s prior business experience includes work as an environmental and real estate redevelopment consultant, in environment laboratories, and regulator in multiple states and regulatory media. Melissa led her certified woman-owned business for several years, providing environmental risk assessment, technical review, regulatory negotiation and business development services for environmental consultants in Indiana and Illinois. Melissa was also a senior environmental manager and environmental risk assessor for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). She later was an invited peer-reviewer and is credited for the 2012 IDEM Remediation Closure Guide. She is a co-founder and a past vice president and treasurer of the Midwestern States Environmental Consultants Association and was an organizer of the 2006, 2009, and 2010 Midwestern States Risk Assessment Symposiums. 

Melissa earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Columbia College where she graduated cum laude. She then earned her Juris Doctor degree and a graduate certificate in environmental and natural resources law from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. During law school, Melissa received an award of merit for her work on the Diplomacy Project through the U.S. Department of State. She also provided more than 250 hours of pro bono legal services, earning the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law Gold Level Norman Lefstein Award for pro bono service to the community. Melissa was a board member and learning session coordinator for the Environmental Law Society, a coordinator of the 2016 Teal Tie dinner, a moot court judge for undergraduate and high school competitions and served as a member of the Christian Legal Society.