Melvin White was born in Crawfordsville, Arkansas. White is a United States Air Force veteran who received an honorable discharge in 1982. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1984 with a BA in Political Science and received his law degree in 1987 from the University of Virginia School of Law.

After law school, White clerked for Chief Judge G. Thomas Eisele of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

His involvement in the D.C. Bar includes six years of service on the D.C. Bar Board of Governors, where he served on the Budget Committee, Executive Committee, and Finance Committee. He serves as director and cochair of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

White also is a member of the American Bar Association, the Edward Bennett Williams American Inn of Court, the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, GAYLAW, the National Bar Association, the National Conference of Bar Presidents, the Washington Bar Association, and the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia. He serves on the board of directors for the Dance Institute of Washington.

On Thursday, June 21, 2007, White, a partner with the D.C. firm McDermott Will & Emery, was sworn in as the president of the D.C. Bar Association, during an annual meeting and awards dinner at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill.

White is the first openly gay head of the group.