Judicial News

JUDICIAL NEWS By: H. Bruce Guyton

Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge

MEET JUDGE JILL McCOOK

The retirement of Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton created a vacancy on the federal bench in the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Over the course of several months in 2021, a Merit Selection Committee, comprised of distinguished area lawyers and non-lawyers, considered over 50 applicants. The Committee then presented five names to the District Judges, and they chose Knoxville attorney Jill McCook. On January 31, 2022, Jill McCook was sworn in as United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. She will serve an eight-year term, after which she may request to be considered for re-appointment.

Judge McCook grew up in the small town of Summersville, West Virginia (pop. 3200). During high school, she knew she wanted to become a lawyer, as she participated in various activities that focused on a career in the law and public service, including Youth in Government. Judge McCook attended Emory & Henry College and pursued a pre-law curriculum.

As an undergraduate, Judge McCook interned with United States Magistrate Judge Pamela Meade Sargent in the Western District of Virginia. Judge Sargent encouraged her to pursue a legal career. Judge McCook showed her aptitude for litigation early, winning both the best brief and best overall performance in the Moot Court Competition in college.

After graduating Magna Cum Laude with honors in political science, Judge McCook attended law school at Washington & Lee University where she excelled, graduating Cum Laude, and was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa. She served as student law clerk to a state court judge and was selected by the faculty as a Burks Scholar. This is a program wherein a small group of third-year students teach legal research and writing to first-year students. Judge McCook has continued teaching during her legal career. From 2013 to 2021, she was Adjunct Professor of Legal Process at the University of Tennessee Law School.

Following summer positions with Knoxville law firms, Judge McCook began her life as a lawyer with the Greenberg Traurig law firm in Albany, New York. She remained there until she accepted a position as law clerk to United States District Judge Thomas A. Varlan in Knoxville. Judge McCook clerked for Judge Varlan from 2010 to 2016, and for several years she was Senior Law Clerk. This experience gave her a keen understanding of the role of the Magistrate Judge in the federal court system. In 2016, Judge McCook joined the Baker Donelson law firm, as part of its Labor and Employment Group and she later joined the Government Enforcement and Investigation Group.

In January 2018, Judge McCook, motivated by a desire to work again in a public service role, joined the Office of the General Counsel at the Tennessee Valley Authority. There she worked on a litigation team handling a diverse mix of matters. She was asked to serve as a Deputy Ethics Official, and in 2020, Judge McCook moved to the role of Manager of Compliance, the position she held at TVA when she became a judge. As for why she sought the Magistrate Judge position, Judge McCook explained that she wanted to apply her education and experience at a high level in the public sphere. She knew she could achieve this goal on the federal bench. And Judge McCook now looks forward to committing the rest of her career to public service: “It is the highest honor of my career to be appointed as United States Magistrate Judge. I look forward to serving the District Judges and the citizens of the Eastern District of Tennessee, as well as the legal profession, to ensure the fair administration of justice and efficient disposition of cases that come before the Court.”

D I C T AEDITORS’ NOTE:

DICTA is a monthly publication of the Knoxville Bar Association. DICTA is offered to all members of the Knoxville Bar Association as one of the many benefits of membership. This issue represents one of our “ super circulation issues ” and is sent not only to all members of the Knoxville Bar Association but to all lawyers licensed to practice law in Knox County and all of its contiguous counties, Blount, Loudon, Anderson, Union, and Sevier. DICTA is an important publication to the Knoxville Bar Association and it provides news regarding members and events of the Knoxville Bar Association as well as information on upcoming CLE seminars. It also provides news and notices from the Knoxville Bar Association president, the Barristers, and the Knoxville Bar Association ' s nineteen different committees and eleven different sections. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, please contact KBA Executive Director Marsha Watson at 505 Main Avenue, Suite 50, P.O. Box 2027, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-2027, (865) 522-6522 or access our award-winning website at www.knoxbar.org.

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