Judicial News

JUDICIAL NEWS By: Broderick Young

Arnett, Draper & Hagood

MEET JUSTICE SARAH CAMPBELL

Sarah Keeton Campbell was confirmed to the Tennessee Supreme Court with a near-unanimous vote on February 10, 2022. Justice Campbell filled the seat left by the passing of Justice Cornelia Clark last September. Justice Campbell was kind enough to join me for a Zoom call recently, and I very much enjoyed learning more about our newest Supreme Court Justice.

Her story begins here in East Tennessee. She was born in LaFollette but was raised mostly in Rogersville, where her family still resides. Her father was in managerial accounting, was plant controller for TRW Automotive, among other roles, and was also the first college graduate of his family. Her brother, Kevin Keeton, is also an attorney and currently serves as the Municipal Court Judge in Rogersville.

Justice Campbell attended Cherokee High School in Rogersville and graduated in 2000. Justice Campbell was a runner on Cherokee’s track team, and, as you might have guessed, was an excellent student and the Valedictorian of her class. She matriculated to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where she was enrolled in the College Scholars program. She was very active in the student body, was elected student body president, and was a Torchbearer before graduating summa cum laude in 2004. Justice Campbell met her husband Scott Campbell during her freshman year at the University of Tennessee, and the pair married in 2005.

After graduation, and after working for nearly a year as a program coordinator for the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy,1 Justice Campbell decided to attend law school. She was interested in obtaining a joint degree in law and public policy. Duke University provided this opportunity, offered a closer-knit community, and when Duke threw a full scholarship into the mix, the choice was clear.

She once again excelled academically, serving as managing editor for the Duke Law Journal and a member of the moot court board. She also participated in the Appellate Litigation Clinic, where she had the opportunity to argue an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She graduated magna cum laude in 2009 with her law doctorate and a master’s degree in Public Policy.

After graduating from law school, she obtained a clerkship with Judge William H. Pryor Jr. on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Birmingham, Alabama. Upon completing this clerkship, she went on to work for the Williams & Connolly law firm in Washington, DC.

After just one year with the firm, she was presented with the remarkable opportunity to clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the United States Supreme Court. She returned to Williams & Connolly after the one-year clerkship concluded.

Before and after her Supreme Court clerkship, her work was a mix of trial and appellate work, with a heavier emphasis on appellate matters following her clerkship. The cases she handled primarily involved defending corporate clients in a wide range of civil litigation including breach of contract, intellectual property, civil RICO, and tort claims. She also represented individual clients in criminal proceedings, including both white-collar and pro bono matters.

Ultimately, a desire to be closer to home and improve her community led Justice Campbell to accept a position with the Tennessee Attorney General’s office. As Associate Solicitor General and Special Assistant to the Attorney General, she represented the State of Tennessee in state and federal appellate proceedings, which often involved arguing before the Tennessee Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Having recent experience as an appellate lawyer, Justice Campbell appreciates and understands the challenges practitioners face before the Court. She hopes to utilize this perspective to build on recent advances the Court has made, such as e-filing, to make the Court more accessible for counsel and the parties involved. Justice Campbell has enormous respect for her predecessor on the bench, Justice Clark, and as Associate Solicitor General for the State of Tennessee argued before her on several occasions. She recalls Justice Clark being very prepared for each of the cases that came before her. It was Justice Clark’s questions that “would keep [her] up at night before an argument.” Justice Campbell considers it a “privilege to have appeared before Justice Clark” and a “tremendous honor to have been chosen to succeed her on the Court.” When asked to provide tips we could pass on to litigants who come before the Court, her response was simple: be prepared. “It’s the attorney’s job to know the case better than anyone in the courtroom, including the judges. The attorney should master both the record and the legal issues and be in a position to help the Court understand the case.”

Justice Campbell further emphasized the importance of answering directly, not avoiding, a question posed by a member of the Court. “If a judge asks you a question, that question is important to that judge. The question may not be a convenient one to your position, but it is still your job to engage meaningfully and to address the judge’s concerns to the best of your ability.”

Finally, from her perspective, while oral argument is important, she believes the written product an attorney files with the Court has far more value than the attorney’s oral presentation. Members of the Court, and their clerks, spend considerable time with the parties’ briefs before and after the oral presentations. An advocate should prioritize her time bearing this fact in mind.

The Campbells have made Nashville, Tennessee, their home. Mr. Campbell’s career has been mostly in public education, where he has worked as both a teacher and principal. He currently serves as the executive director of an education-related non-profit called Persist Nashville. Their non-work lives revolve around their three young children’s sporting endeavors and involvement in their church community. In their limited free time, they enjoy hiking and visiting Tennessee’s many beautiful state parks.

1 She later served on the Baker Center’s board and continues to remain involved through an alumni advisory group.