Melita Garrett Abbey, Esq.
Melita Garrett Abbey, Esq., is a seasoned strategic legal counselor with 20+ years of experience guiding a complex, multi-jurisdictional organization. As former Deputy General Counsel for a $1B+ enterprise (at its peak) with 120+ locations across the eastern, southern, and Midwestern United States, she provided expert counsel that balanced legal rigor of a fast-paced retail environment with commercial practicality, enabling informed enterprise decision-making while mitigating risk. Her leadership has been instrumental in navigating regulatory complexity, driving compliance, and ensuring operational efficiency across both corporate and field operations. Throughout her career, Melita has successfully directed high-stakes consumer litigation and business litigation defense, labor and employment matters, and regulatory compliance, achieving decisive and favorable outcomes while maintaining disciplined oversight of legal expenditures. She has led internal and external counsel in class action participation or opt out litigation, secured “no probable cause” determinations, and obtained summary judgments in complex employment disputes. In parallel, she has designed scalable legal processes and governance frameworks covering contract management, financial controls, and regulatory compliance, fortifying enterprise-wide accountability and risk management. She partnered extensively with Human Resources leadership to shape labor and employment strategies, update enterprise-wide policies, and provide clear, compliant guidance to a workforce of 4,000+ employees. Beyond her in-house legal expertise, Melita brings a strong governance perspective through long-standing board service, including her current role as Governance Chair for a federally regulated financial institution. Recognized for her strategic insight, mentorship, and collaborative leadership, Melita is a trusted advisor who consistently drives legal and operational excellence at both the management and board levels.
• Bar Admission
• Ohio
• Capital University Law School - J.D.
• Cum laude
• Order of the curia
• Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)
• Columbus Bar Association (CBA)
• Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA)
• Director, Board of Directors - BMI Federal Credit Union
• Legal Advisor, Christian Outreach Ministries
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success foremost to my faith and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, which has guided me through life's challenges and provided grounding and perspective, and inspired me to remain steadfast and purposeful in all that I do.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve ever received is to keep pushing forward, no matter the obstacles or setbacks, and to remain persistent in pursuing my goals.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell young women to be humble and always willing to learn but trust in your abilities, speak and speak up with confidence, and never underestimate the value of their perspective.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges being in-house is managing various complexities of the business in a fast-paced environment with minimal resources and do so within budget constraints. I find the biggest opportunity in being proactive in helping business clients reach their objective and in the continual assessment of processes to deliver operational efficiencies.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are my faith and the rules known as "the golden rule" and the "platinum rule" The golden rule is that you treat others the way you would want to be treated, and the platinum rule is to treat others the way they want to be treated. Both are simple and boil down to respect.
Locations
Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068