Faculty and Scholarship
College of Law faculty are excellent teachers, scholars, and practitioners. Their influential and well-respected scholarship is placed in some of the most esteemed law publications in the nation.
Faculty and Scholarship
College of Law faculty are excellent teachers, scholars, and practitioners. Their influential and well-respected scholarship is placed in some of the most esteemed law publications in the nation.
Adjunct Professors
Terry Adams
Email: tadams@terryadamslaw.com
Phone: 865-531-6440
Education
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Terry Adams is the founding attorney of Adams Law and the president of Admiral Title Inc. in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is a former NFL player’s agent and has taught Sports Law and Title Law at the University of Tennessee Law School. In addition to teaching at the law school, he is a frequent speaker across the state providing training and education to the legal, business and real estate community on negotiations, contract law and real estate law. He has appeared as a “Top Attorney” in several categories as published in Knoxville Cityview Magazine including Real Estate Development & Financing Law, Business Law, and Sports & Entertainment Law.
Adams frequently writes on topics that concern his clients such as The Art & Science of Negotiation, Cityview Magazine 2009, Business Law: Representing the Whole Client, Cityview Magazine 2011, Getting it Right When it Counts – Crisis Management and Critical Decision Making, Cityview Magazine 2012. Finding Opportunities to Thrive in the Face of Crisis, Knoxville News Sentinel, February 2021.
He is from Nashville, Tennessee and served eight years in the United States Navy Reserves.
He teaches contract drafting and negotiation, and serves as an attorney-mentor for the UT Law Mentoring Program.
Kyle Baisley
Email: KBaisley@lrwlaw.com
Phone: 865-974-6789
Education
B.A., (Political Science), Furman University
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Kyle A. Baisley is an attorney with Long, Ragsdale & Waters, P.C. in Knoxville. He concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial transactions for real estate, technology, banking/finance and firearms industry clients. He provides counsel for entrepreneurial and start-up businesses, prepares securities documents and filings and assists clients with estate planning. He also leverages his past in-house experience to serve as an outsourced general counsel to small- and medium-sized businesses.
He teaches contract drafting and negotiation, and serves as an attorney-mentor for the UT Law Mentoring Program.
Janie Ballinger
Email: jballinger@bakerdonelson.com
Phone: 865-549-7216
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Jamie Ballinger joined national firm Baker Donelson in 2014 after serving as an attorney at London & Amburn in Knoxville. She practices in the areas of healthcare, employment, and manufacturing.
Ballinger graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Tennessee, where she was a Normandy Scholar, before obtaining her law degree with honors in 2008 from the University of Tennessee College of Law.
She was one of 25 members of the inaugural Leadership Tennessee Next cohort, and she now serves on the Leadership Tennessee Next steering committee. She is also a fellow in the Knoxville Bar Foundation, a member of the board of governors for the Knoxville Bar Association, and the recipient of the KBA’s President’s Award for Extraordinary Service to the Bar.
Rodd Barckhoff
Email: rbarckho@utk.edu
Phone: 865-974-6870
About
Rodd Barckhoff has taught legal process and advanced appellate advocacy since 2003. In addition to teaching for the College of Law as an adjunct faculty member, he serves as the interim director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution.
He previously served as a staff attorney for the Tennessee Supreme Court for over 20 years, working primarily on criminal and capital cases.
He graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law with High Honors in 1991. Born and raised near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
William Barnette
Email: will_barnette@homedepot.com
Phone: 865-974-4241
About
Will Barnette is associate general counsel for The Home Depot and is a member of the company’s legal senior leadership team. He leads the company’s commercial litigation team, which has responsibility for The Home Depot’s most significant commercial and business litigation, including consumer class actions, IP disputes, antitrust, vendor and customer disputes, tax, and shareholder matters. In addition, he frequently manages high-stakes internal investigations and regulatory inquiries for the company.
Prior to his current position, Barnette was responsible for managing The Home Depot’s class action and other complex commercial litigation. In that role, over a decade he led the successful defense of more than 200 class actions. He also created a recovery project through which The Home Depot identifies significant opportunities to participate in class settlements or pursue opt-out litigation, resulting in a number of large recoveries for the Company.
Barnette manages The Home Depot’s third-party discovery response team and the legal function that supports The Home Depot’s outside sales and services, pro, and rental business teams. He also founded, and co-chairs with the company’s general counsel, The Home Depot’s Investigations Council.
Barnette is one of the few in-house counsel to have argued before the United States Supreme Court, which he did in 2019 in Home Depot v. Jackson. Mr. Barnette was named a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America in 2017. In 2016, he won the Corporate Counsel Award for Advocacy given by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and the Association of Corporate Counsel Georgia Chapter. In 2014, he won the First Chair Award for Top Litigation Counsel. Prior to joining The Home Depot, he worked on mass torts and class action defense with King & Spalding LLP.
He is the author of seven law review articles, the most recent two of which (There is No Conservative Case for Class Actions and Misunderstanding Original Jurisdiction) were both ranked in the top ten downloads for Federal Courts and Jurisdiction on SSRN. Finally, he has been an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law since 2023.
Suzanne Bauknight
Email: Suzanne_Bauknight@tneb.uscourts.gov
Phone: 865-545-4284
Education
B.A., University of South Carolina
J.D., University of South Carolina
About
United States Bankruptcy Judge Suzanne H. Bauknight was appointed to serve in the Eastern District of Tennessee (at Knoxville) on November 10, 2014. She previously served as an assistant United States attorney and civil division chief, representing federal agencies in a variety of matters, including bankruptcy and debt collection. During her term as chair of DOJ’s civil chiefs working group, she was appointed to the Advisory Committee of United States Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Judge Bauknight earned her B.A. in international studies magna cum laude with honors from the South Carolina Honors College at the University of South Carolina and her J.D. magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she attended as a Carolina Legal Scholar. Judge Bauknight was law clerk to South Carolina Court of Appeals Judge C. Tolbert Goolsby, Jr. Judge Bauknight began the practice of law as an associate at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, where she practiced in commercial and employment litigation.
Judge Bauknight is a member of the Tennessee, South Carolina, and Knoxville Bar Associations, serving as a member of the KBA Board of Governors and as co-chair of the government and public service sector lawyers’ section. She is an emeritus master of the bench and past president of the Hamilton Burnett Chapter of the American Inns of Court. Judge Bauknight has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law for more than ten years and is an associate editor of the American Bankruptcy Law Journal.
Coleton E. Bragg
Email: cbragg@vols.utk.edu
Phone: 931-434-6596
Education:
B.S., University of Tennessee
M.A., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Tennessee
About:
Coleton E. Bragg has been the general partner for Brownstone Capital Limited Partnership since its founding in January 2016 and is responsible for all operational and investment decisions of the company. He loves deploying Brownstone’s capital into good, needed, and scalable businesses alongside partners who are rational, fun to work with, and are of sound character.
After law school, he worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Atlanta before serving as CFO of Mollenhour Gross, LLC, a private holding company based in Knoxville.
He enjoys reading, running, traveling, tennis, golf, spending time with friends and family, teaching as an adjunct lecturer at his alma mater, and cheering on the Vols.
Bobby Bramhall
Email: BobbyJBramhall@gmail.com
Phone: 979-777-0882
Education:
B.A., Rice University
J.D., University of Tennessee
About:
Bobby Bramhall is the author of Who’s on First? Everything Baseball Players and Their Parents Need to Know, a sports attorney, co-founder of Athlete Licensing Company, former professional baseball player, and former NCAA Division I Asst. Athletics Director (Texas A&M).
After receiving All-American honors at Rice University and appearing in back-to-back College World Series, he went on to play with four MLB organizations over seven seasons in the United States and in Puerto Rico’s Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente.
While a student at UTK, he won both first place and the Professionalism Award at “The Closer” National Transactional Law Competition. In addition, his article, An Employment Stance on Taking a Knee, was published in the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport. He is licensed to practice law in Tennessee. He and his fiancée, Clare, live in Knoxville.
Suzanne Cook
Email: sscook@hsdlaw.com
Phone: 423-283-6302
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee
M.S., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Suzanne S. Cook was elected as Circuit Court Judge for the First Judicial District, Part II in August 2022.
Prior to that, she practiced law for twenty-seven years with Hunter, Smith, and Davis, LLP during which she tried numerous jury trials in state and federal courts in Tennessee and Virginia.
She practiced at every level in Tennessee state court (juvenile, general sessions, circuit, chancery, and appellate), as well as appearing before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, with her practice covering a wide variety of civil matters.
She served as a Special Master, Arbitrator, Mediator, Trustee and Guardian Ad Litem, held officer positions in local and federal bar associations, served on the Tennessee Supreme Court Advisory Commission on the Rules of Practice and Procedure, and earned an AV Preeminent rating by Martindale Hubble for legal ability and ethical standards.
Judge Cook has served on many civic boards in her community, including coaching Mock Trial for several different schools. She loves teaching Trial Practice to the next generation of trial lawyers, and her motto is: “If anyone in the courtroom knows more about the case than you, then you are not prepared.”
Marc Fialkoff
Email: fialkoffmr@ornl.gov
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
Ph.D., Virginia Tech
J.D., Roger Williams University School of Law
M.S., University of Leeds
About
Marc Fialkoff is a nuclear security research staff member with the Transportation Security, Engineering, & Analysis group within the Nuclear Nonproliferation Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Fialkoff supports countries in developing transport security regulations for nuclear and other radioactive materials. He serves as a subject matter expert for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the area of regulatory development and has served as a legal expert on missions to support Member States developing nuclear security regulations. In 2019, Dr. Fialkoff served as a consultant to the IAEA in their effort to support member states in developing regulatory infrastructure for transport security. His research also examines novel questions of nuclear security and maritime law. Currently, he is working on the intersection of nuclear and maritime security for transportable nuclear power plants and floating nuclear power plants.
Dr. Fialkoff graduated from Virginia Tech in 2017 with his doctorate in Planning, Governance, and Globalization (Transportation Planning). His dissertation focused on evaluating the Jones Act waiver process in the aftermath of a disaster. During his time at Virginia Tech, Dr. Fialkoff was an instructor and adjunct professor, teaching courses on public policy implementation, environmental law, and an elective course on nuclear waste planning. He is a licensed attorney in Massachusetts and holds a law degree from Roger Williams University School of Law and earned a masters degree in transport planning while a Fulbright scholar to the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
Beth Ford
Email: Elizabeth_Ford@fd.org
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
B.A., Vanderbilt University
J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law
About
Beth Ford served as the Community Defender for the Eastern District of Tennessee for 24 years. She began working at Federal Defender Services when the office was created in 1992. Before 1992, she was the Area Legal Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Human Services (now Children’s Services) for 13 years. She was previously in private practice as Newport, Tennessee’s first woman lawyer. She currently teaches and consults with defender organizations about quality of representation.
Ford has taught trial practice for 14 years as well as Adjudicatory Criminal Procedure at the College of Law, Criminal Procedure in the college’s MLS program, and criminal procedure at Pellissippi in the paralegal program.
She is past chair of the College of Law Alumni Council and currently a member of the Dean’s Circle and the Leadership Institute’s board of directors.
She has been recognized with the UT Alumni Service Award and with the Bernstein-Ritchie Award for service to the Legal Clinic. In 2023, she received the Knoxville Bar Association’s Governor’s Award for service to the profession. In the community, she is active with the YWCA, the Knoxville Bar Association and Messiah Lutheran Church.
Paul Helton
Email: Paul.E.Helton@tn.gov
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee
M.A, University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Paul E. Helton is a senior associate counsel with the Tennessee Department of Human Services (DHS) in the Office of General Counsel, where he started working in 2010.
He works in the Knoxville DHS office and represents DHS in a 35-county area in East Tennessee in adult protective services matters, child care agency licensing matters, employment and disciplinary matters, rule-making hearings, and assists with drafting state-wide regulations. He also supervises a litigation team of attorneys across the state. Prior to working for DHS, he was a regional general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, also supervising a large legal team; in addition, he was in private legal practice from 2001-2008 in both Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee, where he concentrated his practice on business and construction litigation as well as on other types of litigation.
During law school, he served as a research assistant and teaching assistant to several professors. He has taught legal writing courses to first-year law students at the UTK College of Law since 2005 as well as teaching pretrial litigation in 2023. In 2023, he was awarded the Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award at the UTK College of Law.
Kyle Hixson
Email: kyle.hixson@knoxcounty.org
Phone: 865-215-2509
Education
B.S., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Kyle Hixson serves as the Criminal Court Judge, Division II, for Knox County. A native of Crossville, Tennessee, Judge Hixson worked at all levels of state prosecution prior to taking the bench.
Upon graduating from the College of Law, he worked as an Assistant District Attorney General in the Knox County office. He then spent two years as an Assistant Attorney General with the Office of the Attorney General and Reporter in Nashville.
Judge Hixson returned to Knoxville to serve as Deputy District Attorney General prior to his appointment and election as Criminal Court Judge. He is experienced in trying complex cases to juries and has also practiced at the appellate level, including before the Tennessee Supreme Court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Eboni James
Email: Egude@vols.utk.edu
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Eboni James is the associate general counsel and corporate secretary at Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Inc. She is responsible for providing counsel and legal advice to internal business clients concerning legal rights, duties, contractual obligations, corporate governance compliance, and employment law matters. She is also involved in the emerging and innovative legal field of data privacy and information security.
James is a member of the local and state bars and serves as the vice president of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of East Tennessee. She earned her B.A. and J.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She also earned a Master’s Certificate in Contract Management from the George Washington University School of Business.
Mark Jendrek
Email: mjendrek@utk.edu
Phone: 865-691-7826
Education
J.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville
About
Mark Jendrek is a solo practitioner with an emphasis on real estate and other transactional matters, including negotiating, drafting, and revising general commercial contracts and transactions for individuals and for small, medium, and large businesses; planning and drafting conservation easements; wireless telecommunications issues, including infrastructure matters, siting and site acquisition issues; zoning; drafting and revising ordinances, rules, and regulations; boundary line disputes, and general real estate work.
He is a 1986 graduate of the UT College of Law, and has been an adjunct professor for 30 years, teaching legal research and writing, contract drafting, and commercial leasing.
Robert Jolley
Email: jjolley3@utk.edu
Phone: 865-971-4492
About
Robert Jolley, Jr., formerly and assistant district attorney general for the Sixth Judicial District, now practices in his general practice law firm in Knoxville.
James M. Kennedy
Phone: 865-971-4241
About
James M. Kennedy is the senior vice president of business strategy and serves as Chief Legal Counsel for Pixar. He oversees the company’s legal and business affairs and works closely with his counterparts at Walt Disney Studios. He brings to Pixar more than twenty-five years of experience in entertainment law.
He has held executive legal and business affairs positions at the California-based entertainment software company THQ, Inc., at Electronic Arts, Inc., Mindscape, Inc., and at Lucasfilm, Lucas Digital, and LucasArts Entertainment Company. A recognized expert in his field, Kennedy has been a law school lecturer and adjunct professor, and speaks frequently at entertainment industry events.
Jo Ann Lehberger
Email: joann@slkfamilylawyers.com
Phone: 865-539-3515
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Kentucky
About
Jo Ann Lehberger retired as a family court judge in Lexington, Kentucky and returned to her hometown of Knoxville in 2013. During her 10 years on the bench, she served as chair of the Fayette Family Court presiding over cases involving divorce, child custody, visitation, alimony and support, termination of parental rights, domestic violence, paternity, juvenile status offenses, child abuse and neglect and adoption.
Before taking the bench, she practiced civil and family law litigation for 18 years focusing on divorce, child custody, child visitation and child support litigation cases. She served as chair of the family law section of the Kentucky Bar Association and the Fayette County Bar Association and as a member of the Kentucky Legislature’s Special Task Force on Parenting and Child Custody.
Lehberger is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and Kentucky and is a Rule 31 certified Family Mediator. She has been an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law since 2013, where she supervises student attorneys in the Domestic Violence Clinic.
Buck Lewis
Email: blewis@bakerdonelson.com
Phone: 901-577-2256
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Kentucky
About
George T. “Buck” Lewis has practiced law for almost 40 years. He is a shareholder at Baker Donelson where he leads the firm’s Appellate Group. His clients have included prestigious companies such as American Home Shield, FedEx Ground, First Horizon Bank, Geico, International Paper, TruGreen, USAA, and Wright Medical.
His class action, business litigation, and appellate work has resulted in him being named Class Action Lawyer of the Year and Appellate Lawyer of the Year (twice) by Best Lawyers in America® and Lawyer of the Year by the Memphis Business Journal. He was recently inducted into the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Lewis’ service to the profession has included president of the Tennessee Bar Association, President of the Memphis Bar Foundation, chair of the ABA Pro Bono and Public Service Committee, and Chair of the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission.
He is the Larry Wilks Distinguished Practitioner In Residence at the University of Tennessee College of Law and co-founder of the Institute for Leadership and Professionalism. He has also taught leadership courses at Tulane Law School and for a Fortune 500 legal department.
Donna Looper
Email: dlooper@utk.edu
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
A.B., Columbia University, New York
J.D., University of California Hastings
About
Donna C. Looper is an attorney in private practice who is licensed to practice in Tennessee and California. She consults in legal matters nationwide, and is an author of several books.
Prior to her tenure in Knoxville, she practiced law in San Diego and San Francisco, Calif. She has served as a senior attorney for the California Court of Appeals and clerked for both the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court’s Eastern District of Louisiana.
Sarah Malia
Email: sarahecmalia@gmail.com
Phone: 865-456-1383
Education
B.S., University of Tennessee
M.S., University of Missouri-Columbia
J.D., University of Missouri-Columbia
About
Sarah E. C. Malia, MS, JD, is an elder law attorney, collaborator and mediator, fiduciary, and family studies educator. Since 2006 she has advocated for and served clients in the elder law realm, sharing her holistic approach to unraveling life’s tangles. Malia has extensive training and experience in elder and family law and alternative dispute resolution processes. She has worked “in the trenches” as a court-appointed or private agent in various fiduciary capacities.
Malia graduated with honors with a B.S. in Family Studies from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She received her J.D. in law and M.S. in family studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Along with maintaining a solo legal practice, since 2011 she has taught in the Child & Family Studies Department at UTK. Basic legal education is incorporated in her classes related to estate planning, elder and family law, and public policy.
During 2020, Sarah expanded her work to include taking over leading the Wills Clinic along with Anne McKinney’s team, with Sarah, Victoria Tillman, and Patrick McKenrick co-teaching and assisting UTK’s Legal Clinic clients on an ongoing basis.
Jack H. (Nick) McCall, Jr
Phone: (865) 803-8996
Email: nick.mccall@gmail.com
Education:
B.A. cum laude from Vanderbilt University
J.D. with honors from the University of Tennessee
About:
Jack H. (Nick) McCall, Jr. served as a Senior Attorney and Deputy Designated Agency Ethics Official with Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, Tennessee, from which he retired in 2021. He received his B.A. cum laude from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. with honors from the University of Tennessee, where he served as Editor in Chief of the Tennessee Law Review. The author of various articles on legal, foreign policy and historical topics and as the author/co-author of three books, McCall served on the Boards of Governors of the Tennessee and Knoxville Bar Associations and on the founding board of Legal Aid of East Tennessee. McCall was a member of the TBA’s Leadership Law Class of 2005, among other honors, awards, activities and community service roles. He formerly was Of Counsel with Hunton & Williams’ Knoxville office from 1994 to 2003 and served as General Counsel and Secretary of CTI Molecular Imaging, Inc. from 2003 to 2005 and before law school, he was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, serving as a Regular Army captain. McCall previously taught as an adjunct professor at UT Law (circa 1997-2001), having taught Legal Process II, Contracts Drafting and Securities Regulation.
Ian McFarland
Email: IMcFarland@merchantgould.com
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
B.A., University of Missouri
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Ian McFarland is an attorney at Merchant & Gould, a national law firm focusing on intellectual property law. His practice focuses on counseling, enforcement and litigation encompassing all IP disciplines. He is admitted to practice in the state courts of Tennessee, U.S. District Court for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Tennessee, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth, Ninth, and Federal Circuits and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
He currently serves on the Tennessee Bar Association’s IP Law Committee and is member of the Introduction Knoxville Class of 2019.
Norman McKellar
Email: Norm@mckellarlaw.org
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
B.A., Brigham Young University
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Norman D. McKellar practices law in the areas of civil trial litigation and federal criminal defense, with an emphasis on tax fraud and white collar federal crimes. He has successfully defended clients in criminal cases in both federal and state courts and in U.S. Tax Court.
McKellar was voted by his peers as a “Top Attorney” for eight straight years by Knoxville’s CityView magazine. In 2014, he was selected as a member of the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers” by the National Trial Lawyers, and he also received this same award in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. He was also selected as a member of “America’s Top 100 Criminal Defense Attorneys” in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
While in law school, he won the award for best oralist in the Ray H. Jenkins Trial Competition. He is the founder of The McKellar Law Firm, PLLC.
Rameen Nasrollahi
Email: RNasrollahi@emlaw.com
Phone: 865-546-0500
Education
B.A., Rhodes College
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
A Maryville native, Rameen is an associate litigator at the law firm of Egerton, McAfee Armistead & Davis in Knoxville, Tennessee. Rameen handles a wide variety of litigation matters in both lead and support roles, with a focus on commercial, construction, and estate litigation. Rameen represents various types of clients including individuals, small local business, and larger corporations. Prior to joining Egerton McAfee, Rameen clerked on the Tennessee Court of Appeals and worked for various Tennessee courts while in law school. Rameen attended Rhodes College in Memphis and earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law.
Steve Oberman
Email: steve@tntriallaw.com
Phone: 865-249-7200
About
Steve Oberman is the managing partner of The Oberman & Rice Law Firm, practicing DUI defense law and criminal defense law in general primarily in Knoxville and the East Tennessee region of the state.
Since 1980, he has successfully represented thousands of clients charged with DUI and related cases. He also has defended those accused of serious crimes in federal and state court including, bank fraud, embezzlement, homicide, all types of drug cases, and a variety of white-collar crimes.
Oberman has been an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Law School since 1993. In 2019, he taught American Criminal Law and American Trial Advocacy at the University of Latvia as a Fulbright Professor of Law. In 2023, he taught the same courses at Eötvös Loránd University, in Budapest, Hungary—the oldest continuously operating university in Hungary and ranked in the top 2% of universities in the world.
He is co-author of “Drunk Driving Defense,” with Lawrence Taylor, and author of “DUI: The Crime & Consequences in Tennessee.”
Courtney Orr
Email: Courtney.Orr@ag.tn.gov
Phone: 865-974-6789
About
Courtney Orr is a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Division of the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. Prior to the Attorney General’s Office, she clerked for Judge Robert L. Holloway, Jr., on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. She graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2014. She lives in Nashville and enjoys playing violin and harp.
Kaitlyn Dean Pack
Email: katie.dean@tncourts.gov
Phone: 865-974-6789
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law
About
Kaitlyn Dean Pack has served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Kristi M. Davis, Tennessee Court of Appeals, since August of 2020. Prior to this, she practiced with the Knoxville firm Hodges, Doughty & Carson, PLLC, as a general civil litigator. Kaitlyn also served as a judicial law clerk to the presiding judge of the Western Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Judge J. Steven Stafford, from 2018 through 2019.
Kaitlyn graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2018. During law school, she was Articles Editor for the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy and a student attorney in the Domestic Violence Clinic. Kaitlyn teaches Legal Process II.
Kaitlin Parham
Email: kaitlin@watlawgroup.com
Phone: 615-972-0864
Education
B.A., Furman University
J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law
About
Kaitlin Parham is an attorney at Wiseman Ashworth Trauger in Nashville, Tennessee. She represents healthcare providers and healthcare facilities in healthcare liability litigation and in licensure actions before the Tennessee Department of Health.
Before her employment with Wiseman Ashworth Trauger, she was senior associate counsel with the Tennessee Department of Health advising and drafting rulemaking projects for health licensing boards. Parham worked previously representing the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services in dependency and neglect proceedings in juvenile court.
Parham is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association, Nashville Bar Association, and the Marion Griffin Chapter of the Lawyers’ Association for Women. In her free time she enjoys reading, traveling and cheering for the Vols from Nashville.
Robbie Pryor
Email: repryorjr@knoxvillelaw.com
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
B.S., University of Tennessee
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Robbie Pryor was admitted to practice in Tennessee in 1995 and subsequently admitted in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Tennessee. He is also admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. He is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.
Pryor’s practice has an emphasis on litigation in the areas of personal injury, wrongful death, defective products, and medical malpractice and professional negligence. He teaches trial practice courses at the College of Law.
Pryor is a native Knoxvillian, and is married with four children.
Candice Reed
Email: creed@latitudelegal.com
Phone: 615-351-9259
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee, Knoxville
J.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville
MA.P.P., University of Pennsylvania
About
Candice Reed teaches an upper-level course on Thriving as a Lawyer within the College of Law’s Institute for Professional Leadership.
She also currently serves as senior vice president and partner at Latitude, a high-end legal placement firm headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
Reed served as chief ethics officer and in-house legal counsel at Ceridian Corp. and Com Data, where she oversaw operational ethics compliance worldwide. She began her legal career at the law firm of Miller & Martin PLLC, where she practiced business litigation and commercial bankruptcy law, and later ran the Nashville office of Legility (f/k/a Counsel On Call).
She has extensive experience as a consultant, trainer, and coach for lawyers and their organizations and is a frequent speaker on topics such as attorney wellness, professional development and leadership, workplace engagement and career satisfaction and transition. She previously served on the College of Law Alumni Council, is a past president of the Lawyers’ Association for Women Marion Griffith Chapter, is an emeritus member of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Attorney Wellbeing Committee, a TBA YLD Fellow and currently serves on the Advisory Board of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Nashville, after having served for six years on the board of directors.
Robin Repass
Email: rrepass@fisherphillips.com
Phone: 202-978-3084
Education: University of Tennessee College of Law
About
Robin Repass has more than 25 years of experience in-house and in private practice advising global businesses on labor and employment, workplace safety, litigation, compliance and public policy matters. Robin is a 1996 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law. She also serves on UT Law’s Alumni Council.
Robin is a partner in the Washington DC office of Fisher Phillips, a management side Labor and Employment Law firm. Her client service focus is on workplace safety and catastrophe management, Employment Law counseling and litigation, and government relations. Robin was formerly Amazon’s Senior Corporate Counsel of Workplace Safety and Senior Manager of Workplace Safety Public Policy. Robin also served Tesla as Managing Counsel for Global Environment Health, Safety, and Sustainability. In these in-house roles, Robin litigated and provided state and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance advice.
Stephen E. Roth
Email: stephen.roth@jtv.com
Phone: 865-974-6789
About
Stephen E. Roth is Vice-President and General Counsel at JTV, a company that is both a jewelry retailer and a media company. JTV reaches its customers through its television network, which reaches 80 million households throughout the United State, as well as through its internet and mobile platforms. It is one of the top three U.S. electronic jewelry retailers. JTV’s international operations include locations in Thailand, Hong Kong and India. As General Counsel, Steve serves as both a strategic adviser and legal guide to JTV’s executive team and its board.
Prior to joining JTV, Steve was a partner at Baker Donelson, where he served as Managing Partner of the firm’s Knoxville office, as a member of its Board of Directors, as the Chair of the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Intellectual Property Practice Groups. He was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers, a listing of leading attorneys in the Southeast. Steve received his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Tennessee, where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif.
Steve has also been recognized for his leadership in the in-house legal community. In 2018, the Association of Corporate Counsel, with membership spanning 85 countries and 5 continents, selected Steve as its Robert I. Townsend, Jr. Member of the Year, its highest honor. In 2017-18, Steve chaired the ACC’s Law Department Management Network (LDM), with over 6,000 members worldwide. During Steve’s leadership, the ACC honored LDM as its Large Network of the Year. In 2020 and 2021, Steve received an OnCon Icon Award as a Top 50 Corporate Counsel. Other honorees have come from companies like Pepsi, Bridgestone, and ViacomCBS.
Steve is a frequent speaker and contributor on leadership development for law students and in-house counsel.
Brooklyn Sawyers Belk
Email: bbelk@wwhgd.com
Phone: 404-591-9620
Education
B.A., Emory and Henry College
M.A., East Tennessee State University
J.D., University of Tennessee
About
Brooklyn Sawyers Belk is a trial attorney with Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn and Dial of Atlanta, and her practice focuses on criminal law, premises liability, labor and employment, professional liability and healthcare litigation. She also leads internal investigations.
Over a span of almost a decade, she served as an assistant United States attorney in three U.S. attorney’s offices and as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. She tried and prosecuted various criminal cases, including violence, firearms, drugs, fraud, sexual assaults, human trafficking, and homicide cases—winning convictions in numerous federal trials. She successfully argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits, served as lead counsel for major cases investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, Department of State, and other federal agencies, and lectured on the prosecution of financial crimes and other complex offenses.
Sawyers Belk distinguished herself as an electronic surveillance expert at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., as one of approximately 20 attorneys, who reviewed the nation’s electronic surveillance applications and guided other federal prosecutors across the country in those matters.
Sawyers Belk conducts local, regional, and national training seminars on topics ranging from fraud and white collar crime to implicit bias and social justice.
William “Bill” Sennett
Email: swill248@utk.edu
Phone: 513-368-4152
Education
B.A., Otterbein University
J.D., The Ohio State University
About
Bill Sennett began his legal career as an attorney with Frost & Jacobs (now Frost Brown Todd) in Cincinnati, Ohio in the litigation and labor departments. He was a litigator and counselor who represented major clients in the Cincinnati area, including Square D Company, Cincinnati Gas & Electric, Armco Steel Company and McGraw/Kokosing Construction Company.
He left Frost & Jacobs in 1995 to pursue an in house legal opportunity with Litton Industries and held a number of positions within Litton and its spin off company Western Atlas, Inc. (which later becoming UNOVA, Inc.). He eventually was named vice president, group general counsel for UNOVA’s largest subsidiary, Cincinnati Machine (fka as Cincinnati Milacron) in 2001. During his time at Cincinnati Machine, it was the largest machine tool company in the world.
Sennett left Cincinnati Machine in 2005 to start his own law firm providing general counsel type legal services to clients, which included serving as primary U.S. counsel for a major European manufacturing conglomerate with operations throughout the United States. He also acted as the outside general counsel to several other large manufacturing and service companies with operations throughout the United States.
In 2012, Sennett was named vice president, general counsel and secretary of Xtek, Inc., an employee-owned manufacturing company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio with operations in the United States, Canada, and Europe. While at Xtek, he served as the principal advisor to the company’s board of directors, was a member of the company’s executive committee and spearheaded several major strategic acquisitions.
He retired from his position at Xtek in December 2022.
Bella Sewall
Email: bsewallwolitz@bhfs.com
Phone: 202-216-4872
Education:
B.A., Harvard University
J.D., Yale Law School
About
Bella Sewall is an attorney at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Washington D.C., where she focuses her practice on matters involving federal Indian law, water law, and administrative law.
She brings expertise developed during 13 years with the Department of the Interior working in several roles. While there, she served as an attorney in the Solicitor’s Office in both Washington D.C. and Knoxville, Tennessee, advising the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Geological Survey. She acted as lead agency counsel in several cases that involved conflict regarding transboundary water resources, including Penobscot Nation v. Mills involving tribal fishing rights and reservation boundaries in Maine and Texas v. New Mexico, an original action in the Supreme Court involving interstate water conflict and a Bureau of Reclamation project. Additionally, she negotiated the final statutory language for several legislative settlements regarding Indian water rights, and worked with the Environmental Protection Agency on their Treatment as State program for Tribes.
She has been an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law since 2014, where she teaches Federal Indian law.
Amy Sosinski
Email: amysosinski@gmail.com
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
B.A., Furman University
J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law
About
Amy Sosinski serves as law clerk to D. Kelly Thomas, Jr., of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, where she drafts judicial opinions on a variety of statutory, procedural, and constitutional issues.
Prior to her current position, she clerked for Judge Robert H. Montgomery, Jr., also of the Court of Criminal Appeals, and worked as a life care attorney-in-training with Elder Law of East Tennessee.
While in law school, Amy served as executive editor of the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy, participated in the Education Law Practicum, externed with the Knox County Community Law Office in the juvenile division, and worked asa graduate assistant to professor Dean Rivkin.Her professional interests include juvenile and criminal justice reform, elder and estate law, and special education policy.In her free time, Amy can be found at nerd conventions, playing tabletop games,swing dancing, and baking
Philip Swan
Email: pgswan2@gmail.com
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law
About
Philip Swan is a Knoxville native who attended UT Law where he participated in the Business Law Clinic, LawMeets, and completed the Business Transactions Concentration.
He spent summers interning with a personal injury firm, a juvenile court practice and a public defender’s office.
He currently works as a consumer advocate attorney for a national firm based in New York. As the head of the East Tennessee division of his firm, he assists debtors in getting out of debt without having to file bankruptcy, and occasionally file Fair Debt Collections Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act claims in Federal Court.
Victoria B. Tillman
Email: vtillman@passitonwell.com
Phone: 865-525-8700
Education
B.B.A., Memphis State University
J.D., University of Memphis
About
Victoria B. Tillman is a shareholder in the law firm McKinney and Tillman, P.C. and represents clients in the areas of estate planning, estate and trust administrations, estate and gift taxes, business formation, succession planning, and formation of tax-exempt organizations and approval of tax-exempt status.
She is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the Knoxville and Tennessee Bar Associations, and the Knoxville Estate Planning Council. She serves on the Board of the Knoxville Estate Planning Council and is the current president for the Board.
D. Taylor Tipton
Email: ttipton@bakerdonelson.com
Phone: 865-549-7128
Education
B.A., University of Tennessee
J.D., Georgetown University
About
Taylor Tipton represents banks, bank holding companies, nonbank lenders, other financial services providers, and their investors in merger and acquisition, restructuring and recapitalization, and securities transactions.
He also advises depository and non-depository financial services providers on financial regulatory laws, including the Bank Holding Company Act, Change in Bank Control Act, Bank Secrecy Act, Dodd-Frank Act, and various state licensing and compliance laws throughout the nation.
He has represented clients in investigations and enforcement actions brought by the Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC, CFPB, OFAC, Department of Justice, state banking departments, and state attorneys general.
Heather White
Email: hbwhite1@gmail.com
Phone: 865-974-4241
Education
B.S., University of Virginia
J.D., University of Tennessee College of Law
About
Heather White has more than 20 years of experience in environmental law and advocacy.
She is the author of One Green Thing: Discover Your Hidden Power to Help Save the Planet (Harper Collins 2022) and founder of the nonprofit OneGreenThing.org, the former executive director of the environmental health watchdog EWG, and a past president & CEO of Yellowstone Forever, the nonprofit partner to Yellowstone. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University Law Center, Director of Education Advocacy for the National Wildlife Federation, Counsel to U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), a presidential campaign staffer and recount attorney for Vice President Al Gore, and an associate at Bass, Berry & Sims law firm.
While a student at the University of Tennessee College of Law, she was managing editor of the Tennessee Law Review.
White is a frequent spokesperson in the national media on conservation and sustainability issues and has been featured on Good Morning America, CBS News, PBS, ABC and MSNBC. She has been cited in The Washington Post, New York Times, the Tennessean, and The Guardian. She serves on several national nonprofit boards and lives in Bozeman, Montana.