U.S. Attorney, Middle District of Tennessee, U.S. Department of Justice
Braden Boucek was sworn in on December 24, 2025, as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. Prior to becoming United States Attorney, Mr. Boucek served as the senior vice president of litigation at the Southeastern Legal Foundation having previously served as the vice president of legal affairs at the Beacon Center. Mr. Boucek has extensive experience as a prosecutor, starting his career at the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office before serving for two years as an Assistant District Attorney General in Williamson County. He was a federal prosecutor for ten years, first serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Tennessee from 2005 to 2011. From 2011 to 2015, Mr. Boucek was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee, the district he now leads as the United States Attorney.
United States Attorney, Western District of Tennessee
D. Michael Dunavant is currently serving for the second time as the Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, and was sworn into office on October 10, 2025. In that role, he is the 50th and 54th person to serve as the chief federal prosecutor and legal representative of the United States for the 22 counties and approximately 1.6 million citizens of West Tennessee. Mr. Dunavant is the first person to serve the district twice as the Presidential appointee, having previously served as U.S. Attorney from 2017–2021 during the first Trump administration. In addition to his service as the U.S. Attorney, Mr. Dunavant has served as the Deputy Executive Director of Legal Services & Policy for the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference from 2023-2025; the Chief Investigative Counsel for the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Division of Investigations from 2021-2023; and the elected District Attorney General for the 25th Judicial District of Tennessee, where he served as the chief state criminal prosecutor for Lauderdale, Tipton, Fayette, Hardeman, and McNairy counties in West Tennessee from 20062017. Prior to his service as District Attorney, Mr. Dunavant was a partner in the law firm of Carney, Wilder & Dunavant in Ripley, Tennessee. A native of Ripley, Mr. Dunavant holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence Degree with honors from the University of Mississippi at Oxford, and has been practicing law in Tennessee since 1995.
United States District Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
Brian Lea is a district judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Before taking the bench, Judge Lea served as Deputy Associate Attorney General in President Trump’s second administration. Prior to his public service, Judge Lea was a partner with the Issues and Appeals practice of Jones Day. He also served on the faculty of the University of Georgia School of Law, where his research and publications focused on the operation of the federal courts. Judge Lea began his legal career with two clerkships, one for Justice Clarence Thomas and the other with Judge Ed Carnes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Judge Lea graduated first in his class from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he served as an editor on the Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.
Circuit Court Judge, State of Tennessee, 21st Judicial District
Judge Woodruff has served as the Division I Circuit Judge of Tennessee’s 21st Judicial District since his election in 2014. The 21st is one of Tennessee’s busiest judicial districts and each judge sits as a chancellor, criminal and civil circuit court judge. Prior to redistricting in 2022, the 21st Judicial District had the largest ratio of population per judge of any of Tennessee’s 31 judicial districts. Today, the 21st remains in the top tier of that statistic. He was re-elected in 2022 without opposition.
Before becoming a judge, Woody was a partner in the litigation group at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP, where he represented clients in state and federal trial and appellate courtrooms in a nationwide practice focusing on the healthcare and financial services industries. From 2004 through 2007, he was the lead lawyer of the team representing the State of Tennessee in litigation against the Maddox Foundation. This bitter interstate legal battle concluded with a settlement returning $55 million to Tennessee reviving the charitable foundation originally established by Nashville philanthropists Dan and Margaret Maddox.
Woody began his legal career as an officer in the US Army JAG Corps. During his six years of active duty, he tried to verdict more than 100 contested cases involving military justice, administrative law and federal tort claims actions. In 1986, he successfully represented a military intelligence agent charged with financial crimes related to covert activities and stemming from a sweeping criminal investigation into the official actions of high-ranking commissioned officers. His client was the first defendant tried, and only defendant to be acquitted. Following active duty, Woody served as a JAG in the US Army Reserve and retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
He earned his JD degree in 1981 from the University of Alabama School of Law. In law school, he was the recipient of the Dean M. Leigh Harrison Award, the Hugo Black Award, and was a member of the Order of the Coif, among other honors. He has published scholarly articles in various legal periodicals, as well as newspaper columns and blogs on college football. He has been an adjunct professor at the Belmont University School of Law, and is an active member of the Tenn. John Marshall Chapter, American Inns of Court and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy.
Judge, Tennessee 5th Judicial District, Blount County Circuit Court
David R. Duggan, Blount County circuit judge, is the author of the book, Alcoa: A Century in Words and Pictures. He also co-authored Alcoa and Maryville in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series. He is Alcoa city historian, a former Blount County Library board chair, and lay representative, a Sunday School teacher, and church historian at Alcoa First Methodist Church. He serves as lay leader of the MidSouth Annual Conference of the Global Methodist Church (GMC), and he is a member of the GMC’s global Ecumenical Relations Commission. He chaired the City of Alcoa’s 75th Anniversary and Centennial Committees. Named to the Daily Times Alumni Wall of Fame in 2010, he received the Blount Historic Trust Champion Award in 2015. He also received, in 2018, a Community History Award, and in 2022 an Award of Distinction, from the East Tennessee Historical Society. He is president and a director of the Faith and Family Coalition, Inc. He serves as a member of the executive committee of the Knoxville chapter of the Federalist Society. Duggan also serves on the Mr. P Foundation board. Alcoa High School’s lyceum is named in his honor.
Circuit Court Judge of the Tenth Judicial District, State of Tennessee
Judge Andrew Mark Freiberg is a Circuit Court Judge for criminal matters in the Tenth Judicial District in Tennessee, covering the counties of Bradley, McMinn, Monroe, and Polk. He was elected to the court in 2014 and was reelected to office in 2022.
Judge Freiberg received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2001, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Criminal Justice. He received his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2004. From 2004-2011, he was a Prosecutor in the District Attorney’s Office, 10th Judicial District, Tennessee, and from 2011-2014, prior to his election, he was a litigation attorney in a local law firm. He has also served part-time as an Adjunct Professor at Tennessee Wesleyan University.
As a judge, he has presided over criminal jurisdiction matters throughout Southeast Tennessee having adjudicated over eleven thousand felony jury trials, motion hearings and pleas involving the criminally accused. He has served with distinction as the presiding Judge for the Tenth Judicial Recovery Court, which is a judicially monitored, intensive out-patient treatment program for non-violent offenders seeking to overcome addiction and mental illness. He also founded a successful Mental Health Court rehabilitation program for the Tenth Judicial District serving the mentally ill convicted of non-violent offenses.
While attending law school at UT, Judge Freiberg met his wife, Crystal Freiberg, with whom he shares two amazing children, Archer and Berkley Freiberg. He is a member of First Lutheran Church in Cleveland, Tennessee where he has served as both President and Vice-President. He is also a member of the Federalist Society, Heritage Foundation, NRA, National Association of Drug Court Professionals, and Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks. He is also an avid sports fan and a fanatic of the Green Bay Packers and the Tennessee Vols.
Circuit Court Judge, State of Tennessee
A West Tennessee native, Judge Jimmy Turner graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Administration. He graduated from Nashville School of Law in 2011. As an attorney, his practice focused on criminal defense, domestic relations and personal injury litigation representing both plaintiffs and defendants. He also served as the City Attorney for Eagleville, Tennessee. In 2021, Judge Turner was appointed by Governor Bill Lee as Circuit Court Judge for the 16th Judicial District. He presides over a criminal docket. Judge Turner and his wife Erin reside in Lascassas, Tennessee with their two sons, Hudson and Harrison.
Justice, Tennessee Supreme Court
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam appointed Mary L. Wagner of Memphis as Circuit Court Judge, Division VII, for the 30th Judicial District on October 24, 2016. Wagner was elected to this judgeship in August 2018.
“With her extensive background in Shelby County, Mary Wagner is well prepared for a seat on the circuit court in the 30th Judicial District,” Haslam said. “We are fortunate to have someone with her experience, and we are pleased to announce this appointment.”
Prior to her appointment Wagner practiced with the Memphis law firm Rice, Amundsen & Caperton PLLC, where she had a general civil litigation practice. While at the firm, she taught at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis from 2012-2014 as an adjunct professor, teaching second-year law students advanced skills in legal writing and oral advocacy and first-year students legal writing, research and analysis.
Before joining Rice, Amundsen & Caperton, Wagner practiced with a regional insurance defense firm. She served as a law clerk from 2009-2010 for Judge Steven Stafford of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, law clerk for Judge Robert L. Childers in the Shelby County Circuit Court from 2008-2009 and worked as an extern in 2008 with the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Tennessee. Wagner was a research assistant in 2007 for Prof. Andrew McClurg during law school.
Wagner received her law degree from the University of Memphis in 2009 graduating magna cum laude, 4th in her class. While in law school, Wagner served as a Notes Editor for the University of Memphis Law Review. She received a bachelor’s degree in 2006 from the University of Colorado, majoring in political science.
Throughout her career, Wagner has been active in the legal community. She is a member of the Tennessee, Mississippi and Memphis Bar Associations. She serves on various committees and board for these associations. In 2018, Wagner was elected as a Fellow of the Memphis Bar Foundation. Also, in 2018, Wagner was selected as one of the Twelve Most Outstanding Women, Honoring Women in the Judicial System by the Memphis Inter-Denominational Fellowship Inc. Wagner is also active in the Tennessee Judicial Conference, where she served as Secretary and currently serves on the Tennessee Pattern Jury Instruction Committee and Legislation Committee. Wagner is also a member of the Tennessee Trial Judges Association. In 2019, Wagner received the Chancellor Charles A. Round Memorial Award for Outstanding Judge of the Year from the Young Lawyers’ Division of the Memphis Bar Association.
Judge Wagner has also been appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court as special judge for the Tennessee Worker’s Compensation Appeals Panel and as a member of a Three-Judge panel in a constitutional case.
Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General's Office
Attorney General of Tennessee
Jonathan Skrmetti was sworn in to an eight-year term as Tennessee’s Attorney General and Reporter on September 1, 2022.
Prior to his current role, General Skrmetti served as Chief Counsel to Governor Bill Lee and as Chief Deputy Attorney General to his predecessor, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery.
Before working for the State of Tennessee, General Skrmetti was a partner at Butler Snow LLP in Memphis. His legal career began with nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor. He worked at the Civil Rights Division at Main Justice and then at the Memphis U.S. Attorney’s Office and prosecuted sex traffickers, corrupt government officials, and violent white supremacists. In addition, General Skrmetti taught cyberlaw as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.
General Skrmetti earned honors degrees from George Washington University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Following law school, Jonathan clerked for Judge Steven Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife and four children.
Associate Justice, Tennessee Supreme Court
Sworn in by Governor Bill Haslam in September 2014, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Holly Kirby is the first graduate of the University of Memphis ever to sit on Tennessee’s highest court. A career jurist, Justice Kirby has authored well over a thousand opinions from appeals all across the state.
Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Kirby served for almost 19 years on the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Tennessee’s intermediate appellate court for civil cases. She represented a gender milestone on the Court of Appeals—when she was appointed in 1995, she became the first woman ever to sit on that Court.
A lifelong Tennessean, Justice Kirby was born in Memphis and graduated from high school in Columbia, Tennessee. As an undergraduate at the University of Memphis, she held a number of student leadership positions and graduated in 1979 with high honors, with a B.S. in mechanical engineering.
In 1982, Justice Kirby graduated from the University of Memphis School of Law with high honors. Upon graduation, she served as a judicial law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
After her clerkship, Justice Kirby joined the Memphis law firm of Burch, Porter & Johnson, where she was active in politics and community service. When she was selected as partner in 1990, she became the firm’s first female partner.
From the time of her appointment to the Court of Appeals in 1995 to the present, Justice Kirby has won 5 statewide elections, in 1996, 1998, 2006, 2014, and 2016.
Justice Kirby was chosen as Outstanding Young Alumna for the University of Memphis in 1996, Outstanding Alumna for the University of Memphis College of Engineering in 2002, and Special Distinguished Alumna for the School of Law in 2016. She is married to Memphis businessman Russell Ingram and has two grown children. The family belongs to Idlewild Presbyterian Church.
Senator, 24th District, Tennessee State Senate
Senator Stevens was elected to the State Senate in 2012 and represents Obion, Weakley, Henry, Gibson, Carroll and Benton Counties in Northwest Tennessee. Sen. Stevens is the first Republican to ever represent Obion and Weakley counties in the State Senate. Sen. Stevens is 45 years old and lives in Huntingdon, Tennessee, with his wife, Elicia, and his two daughters, Lexie and Mary Kendall. Mr. Stevens and his family are members of the First Baptist Church Huntingdon where John teaches Sunday school and coaches his daughters’ Upward basketball teams, He enjoys running, is an avid sports fan, is a lifetime learner, and occasionally spoiling a good walk by trying to golf.
Solicitor General, Tennessee Attorney General's Office
Matt Rice serves as the Solicitor General of Tennessee. Before joining the State, Matt worked in private practice at Williams & Connolly LLP. He clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the United States Supreme Court as well as Judge Sandra Ikuta on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before his legal career, Matt played professional baseball in the Tampa Bay Rays organization.
Founder and Director, James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights & the American Founding
Hadley Arkes joined the faculty of Amherst College in 1966. He became the Edward Ney Professor of Jurisprudence in 1987, and held that chair until he retired officially in July 2015. But he has not retired from writing and speaking. He has carried that teaching into a new phase; he has become the Founder and Director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding in Washington, D.C. He has written eight books, mostly with Princeton and Cambridge University Presss. Among the books at Princeton have been: The Philosopher in the City (1981), First Things (1986), Beyond the Constitution (1990), and The Return of George Sutherland (1994). With Cambridge Press he has done Natural Rights and the Right to Choose (2002), and Constitutional Illusions & Anchoring Truths: The Touchstone of the Natural Law (2010). His most recent book, with Regnery Press is Mere Natural Law (2023) His articles have appeared in professional journals, but apart from his writing in more scholarly formats, he has become known to a wider audience through his writings in the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Civitas and First Things, a journal that took its name from his book of that title.
He was the main advocate, and architect, of the bill that became known as the Born-Alive Infants’ Protection Act. The account of his experience, in moving the bill through Congress, is contained as an epilogue or memoir in his book, Natural Rights & the Right to Choose. Arkes first prepared his proposal as part of the debating kit assembled for the first George Bush in 1988. The purpose of that proposal was to offer the “most modest first step” of all in legislating on abortion, and opening a conversation even with people who called themselves “pro-choice.” Professor Arkes proposed to begin simply by preserving the life of a child who survived an abortion–contrary to the holding of one federal judge, that such a child was not protected by the laws. Professor Arkes led the testimony on the bill before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House in July 2000, then again in July 2001. The legislative calendar was upended in the aftermath of September 11th, but in March 2002, the bill was brought to the floor of the House, where it passed unanimously. To the surprise of Professor Arkes, the bill was brought to the floor of the Senate on July 18 by the Deputy Majority Leader, Harry Reid, and passed in the same way. On August 5, President Bush signed the bill into law with Professor Arkes in attendance.
Professor Arkes was the founder, at Amherst, of the Committee for the American Founding, a group of alumni and students seeking to preserve, at Amherst, the doctrines of “natural rights” taught by the American Founders and Lincoln. That interest has been carried over now to the founding of a new center for the jurisprudence of natural law, in Washington, D.C.: the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights and the American Founding, named for one of the premier minds among the American Founders. Professor Arkes has drawn to this project a cluster of accomplished federal judges who have wanted to get a firmer hold on the natural law, and brought them together with some gifted teachers of philosophy and law. The new institute will be sponsoring lectures and seminars in Washington and other parts of the country. The purpose of this new James Wilson Institute is to teach anew, to lawyers, judges, and students those principles of law that furnished the guide to the American Founders as they set about framing a Constitution. And the hope is to restore, to a new generation, the furnishings of mind of the men who formed this regime.
Deputy Attorney General and Director of the Civil Rights Enforcement Division, Office of the Tennessee Attorney General
Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One
The Honorable Jennifer M. Perkins began service on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, on October 30, 2017. At the time of her appointment by Governor Douglas Ducey, Judge Perkins was Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Arizona.
Judge Perkins was born in Portales, New Mexico, and primarily raised in Albuquerque. She attended the prestigious Albuquerque Academy from 1988-1995, before moving to Washington D.C. to attend the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University as a National Merit Scholar. Therafter, she relocated again to Dallas, Texas, and earned her juris doctor from the SMU Dedman School of Law, graduating cum laude in 2002.
Judge Perkins started her career at the law firm of Browning & Peifer (now Peifer, Hanson, Mullins, and Baker) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there, she litigated complex commercial matters including class action plaintiff and defense work, and assisted with employment and contract litigation. In 2003, the judge accompanied the Honorable James O. Browning in transitioning to the federal district court bench, serving as his first law clerk.
After her clerkship, Judge Perkins moved to Arizona to work for the Institute for Justice, Arizona Chapter, a public interest law firm. She spent five years with IJ-AZ litigating civil rights cases in Arizona and across the country. In 2009, the judge became Disciplinary Counsel for the Arizona Commission on Judicial Conduct, where she reviewed and prosecuted ethics complaints against state court judges throughout Arizona. After five years serving the state in this capacity, Judge Perkins entered private practice by joining an appellate law firm in Phoenix. While there, she worked on state and federal appeals involving a wide range of legal subjects, including complex business disputes, property rights, judicial ethics, and personal injury matters.
In January 2015, Judge Perkins joined the Office of the Arizona Attorney General to serve as the first Assistant Solicitor General; in that capacity, she was responsible for oversight of Attorney General Opinions and served as ethics counsel to the entire office. In addition to these two primary roles, the judge assisted on a variety of matters including trial and appellate litigation of election-related matters; federal appellate litigation with the Federalism Unit; state criminal appeals; and drafting amicus briefs on behalf of Arizona in state and federal courts.
Executive Vice President, Goldwater Institute
Christina Sandefur is the Executive Vice President at the Goldwater Institute. She develops policies and litigates cases advancing healthcare freedom, free enterprise, private property rights, free speech, and taxpayer rights.
Christina is a co-drafter of the Right to Try initiative, now federal law, which protects terminally ill patients' right to try safe investigational treatments that have been prescribed by their physician but are not yet FDA-approved. She has won important victories for property rights in Arizona and works nationally to promote the Institute's Private Property Rights Protection Act, a state-level reform that requires government to pay owners when regulations destroy property rights and reduce property values.
Christina is the co-author of the book Cornerstone of Liberty: Private Property Rights in 21st Century America (2016). She is a frequent guest on national television and radio programs, has provided expert legal testimony to various legislative committees, and is a frequent speaker at conferences. She is the recipient of the 2018 Buckley Award in recognition of her leadership in the freedom movement, and she is an Advisory Board Member of the Network of enlightened Women. Christina serves on the board of the Phoenix Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and is a member of the executive committee for the Federalist Society's Regulatory Transparency Project: FDA & Health.
Christina is a graduate of Michigan State University College of Law and Hillsdale College.
Panel 3: Making a Federal Case of It: Tennessee's Chief Law and Civil Rights Enforcers Speak
2026 Tennessee Chapters Conference
Nashville, TNPanel 1: Matter of First Impression: The Constitution on the Front Lines
2026 Tennessee Chapters Conference
Nashville, TN2026 Tennessee Chapters Conference
Nashville, TN2026 Supreme Court Roundup - Memphis
Memphis Lawyer Chapter
Memphis, TNA Discussion with Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti
Mississippi Gulf Coast Lawyer Chapter
Gulfport, MSA Conversation with Justice Kirby
Nashville Lawyer Chapter
Nashville, TNPlenary Session 4: Federalism with the Feds– Unique Partnerships Between State Executives and Federal Agencies
Featuring: Mr. Louis J. Capozzi III, Solicitor General, Missouri Attorney General's Office Ms. Madeline Clark, Principal...
TN Legislative Review
Nashville Lawyer Chapter
TN Supreme Court Review
Nashville Lawyer Chapter
Nashville, TNPanel IV: Mandates, Medicine, and Liberty: The Legal Battle Over Bodily Autonomy and the Right to Choose
Hadley P. Arkes, Steven J. Griffin, Jennifer Perkins, Christina Sandefur
Featuring: Prof. Hadley P. Arkes, Founder and Director, The James Wilson Institute Mr. Steven Griffin, Deputy Attorney...