Carol McCoy
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Carol McCoy

The Hon. Carol L. McCoy (Ret.) had a distinguished career spanning 20 years as a chancery court judge in Nashville for the Twentieth Judicial District of Tennessee, where she served as chancellor in important and complex civil cases. Her judicial career includes an appointment by the Tennessee Supreme Court to the Appellate Court Judicial Evaluation Committee, where she was one of five trial judges tasked with evaluating the performance of all Tennessee appellate judges, including the justices of the Tennessee Supreme Court.

During her time on the bench, Carol was highly regarded for her hard work, courtesy, intelligence, preparedness, and timeliness. She demonstrated the ability to handle complex legal issues, reading all briefs and cited cases while rendering decisions promptly. Carol consistently exhibited impartiality, patience, and perseverance, traits that will serve her well in mediation and arbitration. She has 23 years of experience as a litigator, dealing with difficult issues of first impression, personal injury, business and contract disputes, employment litigation (including non-compete provisions and discrimination), environmental challenges, constitutional challenges, product liability, bankruptcy, and creditors’ rights. As a partner in a small firm, Carol gained valuable insights into real-world business operations, including employee relations, prompt payments, collections, taxes, regulations, leases, and equipment maintenance.

Throughout her career, Carol has actively participated in both her legal and civic communities, serving on numerous nonprofit boards and government agencies.

A native Tennessean, Carol has volunteered extensively and has been committed to serving the Nashville community.

Mediation Background

As a chancellor, Carol wrote hundreds of decisions, resolving a wide variety of disputes involving businesses, partnerships, corporations, healthcare companies, non-competition and trade secrets, entertainment, construction, insurance, real property, constitutional, statutory, administrative law, education, and employment issues. From 1997 to 1998, Carol participated in a pilot project that provided judicial mediation for lawsuits in other courts. She completed in-depth mediation training at the National Judicial College in Reno and later supplemented this training with additional mediation courses while on the bench. After stepping down, she attended another training course and qualified as a Rule 31 mediator in 2019.

Admitted to Practice

  • Tennessee, 1973
  • Florida, 1973
  • U.S. Sixth Circuit, 1980
  • U.S. Supreme Court, 1978

Education

  • J.D., Vanderbilt University School of Law, 1973
  • B.A., with Honors, Political Science and International Relations, University of South Florida, 1965–1969

Professional or Trade Affiliations

  • Member, (1973 – present), and Board Member, Tennessee Bar Association, 2009 – 2010
  • Member, Florida Bar Association, 1973 – 2016
  • Member (1973 – present) and Board Member, Nashville Bar Association, 1994 – 1997
  • Co-Founder and Member, Marion Griffin Chapter; Lawyers’ Association for Women; 1981 – present
  • President, Tennessee Judicial Conference, 2009 – 2010
  • Presiding Judge, Davidson County Trial Judges, 1999 – 2001

Honors and Awards

  • 1999 Recipient of the Nashville Athena Award