KIZER BLACK - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Family Law / Divorce
- Member of the Blount County
Originally from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Ashley E. Bentley, graduated from Freed-Hardeman University in Jackson, Tennessee in 2001 with degrees in Computer Science and Communications. She worked at the Walt Disney World Resort before attending law school at University of California, Hastings School of Law.
Upon earning her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 2008, Ashley returned to East Tennessee to be close to her family. She has since been admitted to practice in all State Courts and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Ashley has practiced in the areas of Civil Litigation and Criminal Defense since being admitted to the Bar in 2008. In 2014, Ashley became listed as a Rule 31 General Civil and Family Mediator.
In 2015, Ashley joined Kizer & Black, Attorneys, PLLC as a litigation attorney, primarily focused on the areas of Domestic Relations and Family Law, including contested or agreed divorces, custody and co-parenting issues for married, never married, or post-divorce couples, adoptions, child support, grandparent visitation, and juvenile issues, such as unruly and delinquent citations and dependency and neglect petitions. She also practices in the area of Criminal Defense and offers her Mediation services. While Blount County is home, Ashley represents clients in various surrounding counties, including Knox, Loudon, Monroe, Morgan, Anderson, Roane, and Sevier.
Ashley is a member of the Blount County, Knoxville and Tennessee Bar Associations. She has previously served as President of the Blount County Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division (2010 - 12) and as a District Representative for the TBA, Young Lawyers Division (2012 - 14). Ashley is a member of the Leadership Blount Class of 2019. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Legal Aid of East Tennessee. Ashley also enjoys photography, vacationing at Walt Disney World, and, most importantly, spending time with her three children and rescue puppy, Buddha.
Job Titles:
- Personal Injury and Wrongful Death / Construction Disputes / Learn More
Cathy H. Morton received her B.S. from East Tennessee State University, her Masters Degree from the University of Tennessee and her law degree in 1983 from the University of Tennessee. She is Board certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and Board certified in Pretrial Discovery.
Ms. Morton joined Kizer & Black in 2016 and is Of Counsel with the firm. She has extensive litigation experience in medical and hospital malpractice and products liability, contract disputes and other general litigation. She is admitted to all Tennessee courts, the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Tennessee, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Claims Court. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, Knox County Bar Association, Blount County Bar Association, American Association For Justice, and was President of the Blount County Bar Association for two terms. She is an Advocate for the disabled and a Board Member of both East Tennessee Homes and Greenevalley Community Circles.
She is rated as Preeminent by Martindale Hubble with a 5.0 out of 5.0 rating and selected by 2017 Lawyers of Distinction. She has also received awards such as National Trial Lawyers 2018 Top Lawyer and 2019 Top 25 Medical Malpractice Trial Lawyers for professional excellence and highest ethical standards.
She was previously a partner at the law firms of Meares Morton and Nicholson & Morton. She was raised in a military family and is married and living in Blount County with her husband, Ben. They have two children Ben Rod and Allison.
Job Titles:
- Developer and Property Owners Association Representation / Construction Disputes
Job Titles:
- Business and Corporate Law
"I love my job. I get to meet hard-working, energetic people every day. My clients share their expertise with me and I share mine with them. It is a special type of relationship, and their passion is really inspiring."
Kelly A. Love is the business/transactional attorney at Kizer & Black, Attorneys, PLLC. She joined the firm in 2011 and has served as the Chief Manager since 2016. Kelly has a broad range of transactional experience representing clients on entity formations (mainly corporations and LLCs), mergers and acquisitions, business and commercial law transactions (including Uniform Commercial Code transactions), contracts, commercial and residential real estate transactions (including leases), and employment matters such as drafting employment agreements, severance agreements, and non-compete agreements. Kelly's early years of practice were focused on creditors' rights and consisted of loan originations, defeasances, securitized mortgage transactions, foreclosures, loan workouts, short sales, and bankruptcy work.
Originally from Knoxville, Kelly graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. After working in southern California as a bank consultant, she returned to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee College of Law and graduated Summa Cum Laude at the top of her class. After law school, she accepted a job with a large law firm in Atlanta, Georgia, before making her way back home to build her practice in East Tennessee.
Job Titles:
- Estate, Wills and Trust Planning / Probate
Madeline Leonard, a native of Maryville, Tennessee, joined Kizer & Black, Attorneys, PLLC as an Associate Attorney in September 2022. She graduated from Maryville High School in 2015 as a Maryville Scholar and was the recipient of the Lamar Alexander Scholarship. Madeline graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Wake Forest University in 2019. In 2022, she graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee College of Law.
Madeline clerked for K&B during law school prior to joining the firm. She is a transactional attorney practicing in the areas of estate planning, wills, trusts, estate administration, elder law, and corporate law, including entity formations and business transactions.
Madeline is committed to serving her community. She has worked with the McNabb Center in developing and conducting major fundraising events in Blount and Knox Counties. During law school, Madeline served as a student attorney with the University of Tennessee College of Law Legal Clinic providing pro bono legal services to individuals throughout East Tennessee, including service in the Homer A. Jones, Jr. Wills Clinic.
After almost a decade as a professional Firefighter/EMT-IV with Rural Metro Fire Department in Knox County, Tennessee, Matt joined Kizer & Black, Attorneys, PLLC in 2002. Matt practices in the area of estate and elder law planning, wills, trusts, and estate administration. His practice includes drafting wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care directives, and other estate planning documents. He assists and advises clients in estate planning, estate administration, trust administration, transfer tax issues, disability planning, and elder law issues. Matt also routinely works with non-profit organizations, advising them on corporate and other legal issues. Both his undergraduate (B.A., Anthropology) and his law degree were earned at the University of Tennessee.
Matt is a member of the Blount County Bar Association, where he has served as Program Director (2004) and President (2006 & 2007), and where he was the local coordinator for the Supreme Court Access to Legal Education in Schools (SCALES) hearings in Maryville in 2007. He is also a member of the Tennessee Bar Association, belonging to both the Estate Planning Section and Elder Law Section (Executive Committee, 2008-2010; Chair, 2008). He also belongs to the Knoxville Estate Planning council and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Matt served as a member of the Investigating Committee for the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners, conducting character & fitness interviews for potential new attorneys from 2010 through 2017.
A very involved member of the local community, Matt has served on many boards of directors, including Blount County Habitat for Humanity (2004-2007); Blount County Chamber of Commerce (legal counsel, 2004 - present); the Knoxville Volunteer Emergency Rescue Squad (2006-2013; legal counsel 2018 - present); the Foundation for the Blount County Public Library (2006-2011, Vice Chair 2009, Chair 2010 & 2011); the Blount County Chapter of the American Red Cross (2008-2012, Chair 2009-2010, 2010-2011, & 2011-2012); New Hope Blount County Children's Advocacy Center (2010-2013); Blount United Soccer Club (2013-2018); and the Blount Memorial Foundation (2019 -).
Matt was a member of the Leadership Blount Class of 2005, was recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013, and has been rated as a Top Attorney by his peers, as compiled by CityView Magazine (Knoxville). Matt enjoys spending time in the mountains with his wife and boys, and when he's not out hiking or backpacking he can usually be found in the kitchen.
Job Titles:
- Developer and Property Owners Association Representation / Litigation / Learn More
- Member of the Blount County Bar Association
- Member of the Board of Directors for the Blount County Community Action Agency
- Member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Melanie E. Davis, a native of Maryville, Tennessee, is an AV rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell. Melanie graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in French Magna Cum Laude in 1992. She was Phi Beta Kappa and a Normandy Scholar. She attended graduate school at the University of Tennessee from 1992-1993 in French Literature and went on to Law School, graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Law Cum Laude in 1996. She was Woman Graduate of the Year in 1996. She was a member of the Labor Law Moot Court Team. While attending law school, Melanie clerked for the U. S. Attorney's Office in Knoxville, Tennessee and for the Honorable Leon Jordan of the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Melanie joined Kizer & Black in 1995 and has been a partner since 2007. Her areas of practice include civil litigation, personal injury, contract litigation, property litigation, municipal law, land use law, property owners' association law, and condominium owners' association law. She is the attorney for the City of Maryville and for the Town of Greenback. She has represented the City of Maryville since 1999, and as such represents the Maryville City Council, the Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. She is the attorney for the Maryville City School System, the Maryville Housing Authority, South Blount Utility District and Tuckalechee Utility District. She is the delinquent tax attorney for the City of Maryville, collecting past due property taxes. She represents approximately 200 property owners' associations and condominium owners' associations throughout East Tennessee. She also represents many local individuals and businesses.
Melanie is board certified in Civil Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and has been since 2008. She is also certified by the National Board of Civil Pretrial Practice Advocacy, a division of the National Board of Legal Specialties Certifications, as a specialist in civil pretrial advocacy. She was named as one of the top 100 lawyers in Tennessee for each year from 2013-present by the National Trial Lawyers Association. Melanie served as a hearing committee member for the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility from 2006-2012. She is a Super Lawyer for 2023 and was from 2018 through 2022 as well. She was elected by her peers to be included in the Best Lawyers in America from 2019-present.
Melanie has been a member of the Blount County Bar Association since 1996 and was President in 2001 and 2011. She is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the Tennessee Municipal Attorneys Association (TMAA). She was President of the TMAA, the professional association for city attorneys in Tennessee from 2019-2020. She is a Senior Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America and the Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute.
She has presented CLE seminars and seminars in the community on municipal law, local government law, property owners' association law, and law on the internet.
Melanie is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, a society of trial lawyers who have obtained a trial verdict, award, or settlement in the amount of one million dollars or more. She was a 2011 Mid-South Rising Star Super Lawyer in business litigation and received the same honor in 2010. She was previously selected by the National Trial Lawyers as being in the Top 40 Under 40, recognizing her as one of the top 40 lawyers under the age of 40 in the state of Tennessee at the time.
Melanie is a member of the Board of Directors for the Blount County Community Action Agency (Meals on Wheels) and was Chairman of the Board from 2016-18. She was on the Board of the Maryville City Schools Foundation from 2004-2009. She was a member of the Leadership Blount Class of 2001 and is a former Board member of the Blount County American Red Cross, the YWCA of Blount County, Children's International Summer Villages, and Vocational Rehab of Blount County, Tennessee.
She has been married to Chad, a CPA, since 1992. They live in Maryville and have three daughters.
Job Titles:
- Civil Litigation / Construction Law