University of Wisconsin Law School Professor Emerita Marygold Shire Melli , recipient of the 2007 Women of Distinction Award from the Madison YWCA will be honored formally at the annual Women of Distinction luncheon today, May 31, 2007, at the Concourse Hotel.

Marygold (Margo) Melli is one of six recipients of the YWCA of Madison’s 2007 Women of Distinction Award. Melli is a pioneer in the field of family law, and was the first woman tenure-track professor at the UW Law School when she joined the faculty in 1959.

Melli, who is also an alumna of the Law School, has written prolifically in multiple areas of law relating to families and children. She has participated in a large-scale research project that resulted in reform of the Wisconsin child support system and that served as a model for the requirement by the federal government that states adopt Child Support Guidelines. She has researched and written about the role of negotiation in divorce, various aspects of the processing of divorce cases, and developments in the law of child custody.

Joining Melli as this year’s honorees are Eve Galanter (partner of Law School Professor Emeritus Marc Galanter), Anne Ross, Mai Zong Vue, Rita Kehl, and Gloria Ladson-Billings.

The goal of the 33-year-old Women of Distinction Award program is to recognize women whose community service, leadership and dedication to the lives of others reflect the YWCA's historic mission of eliminating racism and empowering women economically to be able to make better lives for themselves.

For more information on Marygold Melli and her professional achievements, see

http://law.wisc.edu/facstaff/biog.php?iID=358.

An article on the 2007 Women of Distinction awards in Madison’s Capital Times can be viewed online at

Submitted by on May 31, 2007

This article appears in the categories: Articles