Oakes Law Firm

MaKensie Reed

Legal Secretary and Administrative Assistant

MaKensie Reed is a Legal Secretary and Administrative Assistant with The Oakes Law Firm. A life-long native of Marshall County, she graduated with honors from Marshall County High School and is pursuing her college degree in Business Administration and Human Resources.

For Ms. Reed, advocating for the injured is a family tradition. Her mother has also spent her career as a paralegal which was the catalyst for Ms. Reed to begin her own profession in the legal field. She is hands on with all of our clients and dedicated to fighting for their rights. She is meticulous, detail oriented, and an essential member of our firm.
While not at the office you can find Ms. Reed shopping, on the lake, traveling, or spending time with her Goldendoodle, Dixie.

Lindsey Perkins

Case Manager

Lindsey Perkins is a trial paralegal and case manager with The Oakes Law Firm. A native of
Charleston, South Carolina, she brings nearly two decades of litigation experience to her newly
adopted hometown of Paducah, Kentucky.

Lindsey started her career as a temporary employee, and was quickly recruited and hired full-time
starting her legal profession which spans multiple states including SC, NC, GA, KY and TN.
She has experience in several areas of law including family, criminal, probate, commercial, and
maritime law. Lindsey has handled litigation on both the defense and plaintiff sides, representing
such prestigious clients as the South Carolina State Ports Authority, The Citadel, and the Medical
University of South Carolina.

Lindsey relocated to Kevil in 2020 where she joined The Oakes Law Firm. As a senior trial
paralegal and case manager she takes an active role in fighting for the firm’s clients, providing
support in all phases of litigation, including pre-suit, discovery, motion practice, and trial
preparation.

Lindsey enjoys traveling, camping, motorcycles and horses. She lives on a farm in Kevil with her
husband, David, and their many animals.

Melissa Hill

Case Manager

Melissa Cochran Hill is a trial paralegal and case manager with The Oakes Law Firm. A native of Paducah, she graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Integrated Strategic Communications as well as Political Science, with a minor in Sociology. While at Kentucky, Ms. Hill was also a staff member of the campus newspaper The Kentucky Kernel, and a graduate of the University’s Honors Program.

Following graduation, Ms. Hill relocated to Florida, where she began her career as a licensed insurance adjuster, working as an injury claims adjuster for several major automotive insurance carriers, including GEICO and Mercury Insurance. These positions provided her with valuable insight as to the inner workings of insurance companies throughout the entire claims process, from intake through verdict at trial.

After obtaining her post-graduate paralegal degree from the University of Miami, she began working as a litigation paralegal for several of Florida’s most prominent insurance defense firms. She also worked for Zurich North America’s in-house counsel where she assisted with the handling of complex commercial liability litigation for major trucking companies, national hospitality and restaurant groups, and corporate clients.

Several years later, armed with this wealth of knowledge and experience about how an insurance company operates, Ms. Hill put this knowledge to use for the benefit of those that seek compensation for injuries they sustained through no fault of their own: she began work as a litigation paralegal for personal injury plaintiffs, including some of the largest and most successful plaintiff’s personal injury firms in Florida.

Ms. Hill relocated back to her home of Paducah in 2019, and joined The Oakes Law Firm shortly thereafter. As a senior trial paralegal and case manager, she brings with her nearly two decades’ worth of personal injury experience in claims including auto liability, premises liability, trucking liability, nursing home abuse, and catastrophic claims. She takes an active role in fighting for the firm’s clients, providing substantive support in all phases of litigation, including discovery, motion practice, and trial preparation.

Ms. Hill resides in Paducah with her two elementary-aged boys and an English Bulldog named Sue.

Education and Licenses
2003 University of Kentucky Lexington, KY
Bachelor of Arts
2007 University of Miami Miami, FL
Post-Graduate Paralegal Program
2022 Nova Southeastern University, Orlando, Florida
Masters Degree Candidate for Graduation

2004-Current Florida Office of Insurance Regulation Tallahassee, FL
License Holder
• Florida 620 Property and Casualty license

Associations and Memberships
• Kentucky Justice Association
• Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association
• NALA