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William M. Barker Joins Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel
Nov. 1, 2008
William M. Barker, recently retired Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice, joins the firm's Litigation Section.
CHATTANOOGA, TN - The law firm of Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C., is pleased to announce that William M. Barker, recently retired Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice, joins the firm's Litigation Section. He will concentrate his practice in the areas of mediation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution, bringing his 25 years of experience serving at all levels of the Tennessee Judiciary.
According to Richard Bethea, head of the Firm's Litigation Practice Group, "We are honored that the former Chief Justice Barker has chosen to continue his legal career in private practice with our firm. His high ideals, keen intellect, experience and gift for peacemaking will make him a great mediator and arbitrator of disputes for the benefit of all parties."
Mr. Barker began his service in the Tennessee Judicial System in 1983, when he was appointed by Governor Lamar Alexander to become Judge of the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial District of Tennessee. He was elected to two eight-year terms and was consistently the highest rate circuit court judge by the Chattanooga Bar Association's bi-annual polls. In 1995, he was appointed to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and was elected by Tennessee voters in August 1996.
Mr. Barker was appointed by Governor Don Sundquist to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1998, and was then elected to a full eight-year term. In 2005, he was unanimously chosen by his colleagues to become Chief Justice. Upon his retirement from the Supreme Court in September 2008, Mr. Barker was named Appellate Judge of the Year by the Tennessee Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
An active member of the legal community, he has chaired the Tennessee Judicial Council, the Tennessee Code Commission, the Supreme Court Building Commissions and the State Law Library Commission. He previously served as President of the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association and was a member of the Board of Governors of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, the Board of Governors of the Chattanooga Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Foundation and the Chattanooga Bar Foundation. At the time of his recent retirement, he was serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices and was the chair of its Problem Solving Courts Committee.
Mr. Barker currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of Chattanooga Foundation. For eighteen years, he taught as an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is a frequent lecturer at legal seminars around the country on ethics.
A Chattanooga native, Mr. Barker attended the University of Chattanooga, and in 1964, on a Benwood Foundation Scholarship, he entered the University of Cincinnati School of Law, where he served as a member of the Board of Editors of the Cincinnati Law Review. He is a 1985 graduate of the National Judicial College at the University of Nevada at Reno. Prior to his appointment to the judiciary, Mr. Barker engaged in the private practice of law in Chattanooga, after he served for two years in the United States Army as a captain in the Medical Service Corps.
He and his wife, Cathy, currently reside on Signal Mountain. They have three children, John (39), David (36) and Martha (34) and enjoy spending time with their seven grandchildren.
"I am excited as I begin this new chapter of my legal career. I have always thought of myself as a people person, and with my 15 years of active trial practice as a lawyer, followed by my years of service as both a trial and appellate judge, I believe that I have the skills and temperament to be an effective mediator and arbitrator for those who seek to resolve their disputes in a forum other than the courtroom. I am particularly delighted to be associated with the excellent legal team at CB&S," states Mr. Barker.