Guide to State Procurement A 50-State Primer on Purchasing Laws, Processes, and Procedures, Third Edition

Melissa J. "Missy" Copeland is a partner in the law firm of Schmidt & Copeland LLC and focuses her practice on state and local government contracts and business litigation matters. Missy has extensive experience advising on state and local government contracts, having handled matters dealing with the law of nearly all states as well as Puerto Rico. Missy has represented clients across the country before administrative tribunals, state and federal courts, and in arbitration proceedings. Missy is licensed to practice in North and South Carolina. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, the Middle District of North Carolina, the Eastern District of Michigan, and the District of Colorado. Missy has served as a special assistant solicitor for the Office of the Solicitor of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in South Carolina. Missy is actively involved in the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association serving on the Section Council, as co-chair of the State and Local Procurement Division, as the North Carolina State Chair, and as co-chair of the State Law Database Coordination Committee. She is the recipient of the Claude M. Scarborough, Jr. Pro Bono Award and the S.C. Attorney General's Award of Appreciation. She was also named a 2008 BTI Client Service All-Star. Missy speaks regularly on government contract issues, including a seminar entitled "Government Contracts," for "The Ladder to Success Continuing Legal Education Program" in October 2006. She spoke at the First Annual State and Local Procurement Symposium on "Federal Civil and Criminal Liabilities." She also spoke at the South Carolina Administrative and Regulatory Law Association Educational Seminar and Annual Meeting in September 2005 on procurement issues. In addition to speaking on these issues, she has also written many articles, including "Getting the Government to Play by Its Own Rules," printed in Government Contract Litigation Best Practices: Leading Lawyers on Understanding Regulations, Planning Defensively, and Successfully Litigating Government Contracts in April 2006. She is the author of "State and Local Procurement: It's a Different World," published in The Procurement Lawyer in 2004 and "Learning Government Purchasing Lingo," published in the South Carolina Business Journal in February 2005. Missy earned a bachelor of arts degree from The College of Charleston and a juris doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Melissa currently lives in South Carolina.