Background Check

BACKGROUND CHECK Andrea Perry | Bart Pickett

It’s not often when the feature of “Background Check” has accolades that range from being named Best of the Bar to one of Nashville Lifestyle’s 25 Most Beautiful People. If you have been involved in the Bar Association or out in the community, there’s a good chance you’ve met this dynamic woman.

Andrea Perry, who grew up in Memphis, decided at the ripe old age of 8 that she wanted to be a lawyer after successfully defending “Johnny B. Good” in an after-school enrichment program mock trial. The Memphis native attended Central (or “The”) High School where she excelled in academics and track. She stayed in Memphis to attend college at Memphis State (the name changed during her senior year). While there, Perry majored in Psychology, which she found interesting and thought it could help her in her future career. Despite her professors’ encouragement to pursue a PhD, Perry had her heart set on law school. Following graduation from college in 1996, Perry needed a break so she took a year off and managed a women’s clothing store in a local mall. She laughs that she did her gap year incorrectly by doing retail instead of traveling the world.

When it came to choosing a law school, she’s not sure why exactly, but Perry felt drawn to Vanderbilt, and it turned out to be a great decision for her. While some people have less than great memories of their time in law school, Perry describes it as three of the best years of her life. During her time there, Perry helped co-found Vanderbilt Law School’s Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. A summer clerkship at Miller & Martin’s Chattanooga office resulted in an associate position in the Nashville office when the firm absorbed the Nashville-based Trabue Sturdivant DeWitt, which was in need of associates.

Perry’s assigned mentor at Miller & Martin focused on real estate, commercial lending, and corporate law. As a result, her practice also focused on those areas along with some entertainment law that the firm gave her the freedom to explore. Perry continued to practice at Miller & Martin until James Crumlin recruited her to join Bone McAllester & Norton in 2006. While at Bone, Perry served on the board of directors and as the recruiting attorney. Perry appreciated and helped cultivate the inclusive, diverse culture at Bone. In her role as recruiting attorney, Perry, along with her colleagues, sought out diverse candidates and helped ensure they had the support needed to ensure their continued success at the firm.

Recently, Bone merged with the national firm, Spencer Fane, based out of Kansas City. According to Perry, the Nashville office retains the same lawyers and culture while having the added benefit of a broad array of practice groups that comes with a large firm.

Throughout her career, Perry has retained a passion for children and that is reflected in her community service. She devotes her volunteer hours to helping youth. She currently serves on the Boards of Rocketown, The Children’s Theater, and the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation. Her philanthropy extends into her professional career as well. She has been recognized by the TN Supreme Court as one of the “Attorneys for Justice” for her commitment to providing at least 50 hours of pro bono work during the year.

While work and volunteering are a big part of her life, Perry’s favorite time is spent with her wonderful family. She met her husband Phil, a former Belmont basketball player who now owns a basketball fundamentals mentoring company, through their church, Mt. Zion Baptist. The couple, who married in 2005, still attend that church, but now with their two sons (15 and 12) in tow. Their sons’ lives dictate their outside interests. Perry describes herself as a sideline cheerleader/referee these days as she spends lots of time supporting them in their football and basketball pursuits. They also take an adventure-based trip each year during either fall or spring break. n

BART PICKETT is an attorney at the Law Offices of Julie Bhattacharya Peak where he represents Liberty Mutual Group, Inc.’s insureds and customers of its affiliated groups in litigation throughout Middle Tennessee.

and “rye” are used to identify the dominant grains used in a spirit. The term “whiskey” can only describe a spirit made from grain. If a spirit is made from 100% aged grain, it is “straight whiskey.” If a neutral spirit is used, it becomes “blended whiskey.”

Between the years 1920 and 1933, the Eighteenth Amendment (more commonly called “Prohibition”) imposed a constitutional ban on alcohol. The subsequent loss in taxes on alcohol had to be offset by an income tax permitted by the Sixteenth Amendment. In 1919, Congress passed national prohibition legislation informally nicknamed after Andrew Volstead, a Minnesota congressman who promoted it.

During Prohibition, bootleggers trafficked alcohol. Doctors were allowed to prescribe medicinal alcohol that patients could pick up at a drugstore. To prevent bootleggers from converting industrial alcohol into methanol, the federal government ordered the addition of poison, which resulted in as many as 10,000 deaths. Grape juice consumption quadrupled during Prohibition, in part because manufacturers informed consumers about ways to prevent grape juice from becoming wine.

The Twenty-First Amendment, ratified in 1933, repealed the Eighteenth Amendment but allowed states to control the delivery or use of alcohol. Tennessee banned the sale of alcohol prior to Prohibition and kept its prohibition in place afterward (that is one reason why Jack Daniels was made in St. Louis for a long period of time).

After Prohibition, the “three-tier” system—governing production, distribution, and retail—was designed to maximize tax revenue, which was much needed during the Great Depression. The three-tier system that exists today in most states was also supported by bootleggers who gained political clout during Prohibition and wanted to continue to prosper from alcohol.

The history of the world is, in part, the history of alcohol. The taxation and control of alcohol has caused—or at least, contributed to—the start of many revolutions (Russian nobility requiring that the relevant noble had to approve all vodka production was one of the many causes of the peasant revolts that culminated with the Russian Revolution). And as we’ve seen in our own country, when the ability of people to make and consume alcohol has been limited, history happens. n

ED LANQUIST is a co-founder of Patterson Intellectual Property Law. His practice is focused on patent, trademark, and copyright litigation, intellectual property counseling, trademark prosecution, and technology law.

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