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2023 Board Nominees
2023 Board Nominees | Ballots Coming in November!
Be sure to vote in the upcoming 2023 NBA Board Election!
Renew your membership at NashvilleBar.org/Renew no later than October 31 for eligibility.
Ben Raybin practices with Raybin & Weissman, PC and focuses on criminal defense, civil rights, and appellate law. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, where he was on the Law Review, and the University of Chicago. He served as a law clerk for Judges Jane Stranch and Gilbert Merritt, both of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Raybin currently co-chairs the NBA’s Criminal Law and Justice Committee and completed the Nashville Bar Leadership Forum. He is on the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. His 2017 article on executive clemency received the Tennessee Bar Journal’s Justice Joe Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing.
Raybin is a Nashville native and attended the University School of Nashville, where he has volunteered as a mock trial coach for over a decade.
Worrick G. Robinson, IV is a member of Robinson, Reagan & Young, PLLC. His principal areas of practice are criminal defense and crisis management matters. In addition, he handles general and complex civil issues, family law, and sports law matters. Robinson graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a business degree, and he received his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.
Currently, he practices in the state and Federal District Courts of Tennessee. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, and the Nashville Bar Association, where he formerly served as chair of the Federal Court and Creditor’s Rights Committees and has also served as a member on the Criminal Court Committee and the Historical Committee. He is a Member of the Nashville Bar Foundation.
Robinson formerly represented a number of NFL players as a NFLPA Certified Contract Advisor. He has lectured at several local high schools and universities and law schools, as well as a number of organizations and continuing legal education seminars. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Belmont University teaching Sports Law in the MBA program.
Robinson wants to continue the NBA’s mission to serve the underserved communities, to communicate the good legal work being provided by attorneys in Nashville and to make an effort to spend more time connecting the NBA to the public service providers to foster and build those relationship for the people of Nashville that cannot afford a legal advocate.
Sherie Edwards is Vice President of Corporate and Legal at SVMIC. She received her BS from Trevecca Nazarene University (1991), her JD from the Nashville School of Law (1996), and her MBA from Vanderbilt University (2012).
Edwards is a member of the NBA’s Sister Cities committee, which she co-chaired 2017-2019. She served as a mentor to several members of the NBA Leadership Forum between 20142019 and represented the NBA as a Delegate to the ABA’s House of Delegates from 2018-2020. Edwards also serves in leadership roles in the TBA (Immediate Past President), ABA, and LAW, and is a member of the Board of Sister Cities Nashville. She is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation, Tennessee Bar Foundation, and American Bar Foundation, and is a member of the Harry Phillips Inn of Court.
Attorney wellness, especially mental health, is of particular
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interest to Edwards. She is also focused on access to justice, especially in terms of involving more corporate counsel in pro bono efforts, and on supporting collegiality and professionalism in the Bar.
Chay Sengkhounmany is the Lead Immigration Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Middle TN and the Cumberlands. At Legal Aid Society, she directs the Survivors Immigration Legal (SIL) Project and provides immigration legal services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
Sengkhounmany is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), American Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association (TBA), State Bar of Georgia, Nashville Bar Association (NBA), Middle Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women (MTLAW), and the Lawyers’ Association for Women, Marion Griffin Chapter. She is currently the president of MTLAW and has served as a co-chair of the NBA Immigration Committee. She completed the Tennessee Bar Association’s Leadership Law Program in 2009. She was honored by AILA as the 2014 First Quarter Pro Bono Hero for the Southeast Region and was selected to the Nashville Business Journal’s Best of the Bar in 2020 and 2022. Sengkhounmany earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, cum laude, from Middle Tennessee State University and received her law degree in 2003 from Georgia State University College of Law.
Chris Sabis heads SRVH’s Government Compliance & Investigations Group and is a member of its Litigation Group. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Sabis earned his JD at Georgetown and a BA in History & Political Science from the University of
Rochester.
Sabis is primarily interested in expanding Bar membership to a broader constituency, promoting diversity in the Bar, preserving the history of the Bar, and advocating for the interests of the Bar’s membership throughout Tennessee. He is a Premier Member of the NBA, an NBF Fellow, Chair of the Historical Committee, and an active member of the Diversity Committee. Chris also serves as a Hearing Examiner for the BPR. He is the Program Chair of the Harry Phillips Inn of Court and has served as Chair of the TBA Federal Practice Section. This year, Chris was inducted into the Tennessee Justice Center’s Pro Bono Hall of Fame.
Sabis is a Past Chair of the Board for Stars Nashville and current Board Secretary of Autism Tennessee. He enjoys wine, hockey, theater, and spending time with his wife and two boys.
Ana L. Escobar was elected to the General Sessions Court in August 2018 and then re-elected in August 2021. Judge Escobar was born in Colombia, South America and became a United States citizen when she was twelve years old. She and her family have lived in Nashville, Tennessee for over forty years. Judge Escobar earned her college degree from Vanderbilt University and graduated from The National Law Center at George Washington University with a Doctor in Jurisprudence. Prior to her election, Judge Escobar has practiced law since 1995 by serving as an assistant public defender, an assistant district attorney, solo practitioner, Metro Clerk, and Deputy Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. She is one of three judges that hears domestic violence cases eight months out of the year. Judge Escobar also presides over Cherished Hearts, the human trafficking survivor’s treatment court.
Judge Escobar has given her time to the Planning Commission, the Davidson County Election Commission, the Board of Equalization, and the State Judicial Nominating Commission. She enjoys giving her time as a volunteer to nonprofits in Nashville. Judge Escobar was inducted into the Academy for Women of Achievement in 2019. She served on the NBA Board from 2008-10 and won the NBA President’s Award in 2005.
Summer Melton grew up in Phoenix and attended Arizona State University. After living abroad in Ireland, she moved to Nashville for Belmont Law and country music. While at Belmont, she competed in mock trial (her team finishing second in the nation), was vice-president of the Board of Advocates, interned in Davidson County Circuit Court, and participated in a program through which she assisted Domestic Violence survivors in securing Orders of Protection. Melton is a trial attorney with MGC Law. She focuses on com-
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plex construction litigation but also practices general civil defense, where she represents clients in both state and federal courts.
In addition to her practice, she is the head coach of Belmont University’s Mock Trial team and an adjunct professor, teaching a course in trial advocacy.
Melton serves as an editor of the NBA Journal and was named Contributor of the Year in 2021. She also represents MGC’s Nashville office at Leadership MGC, a firm leadership initiative where future leaders craft policies for the improvement of the firm. In that role, Melton has focused on bettering inclusion and community.
She lives in Nashville and enjoys spending time with her fiancé and her Great Dane, Baron.
Amy Willoughby Bryant, a consummate professional and attorney, is excited to serve Metro Davidson County and Nashville’s community of individuals with disabilities as the Office of Conservatorship Management Director. Amy demonstrates her passion for her community through her service as a leader, instructor and volunteer in numerous organizations. Bryant serves as an adjunct professor at Belmont University College of Law in Elder Law. This Memphis native is a Tennessee State University alum with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Economics and Finance. She continued her education by obtaining her Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University School of Law. Bryant is past President of Napier Looby Bar Association, Nashville Bar Foundation Trustee and Fellow, Nashville Bar Association Diversity Committee Co-Chair, and Nashville Bar Foundation Leadership Mentee and serves on several other local and national boards. Amy is married to Julian Bryant and mother of four. She lives by the motto that everything in life happens for a reason, embraces life as it comes, and meets every day with optimism!
Keith Alan Turner is a graduate of Hillsboro High School, Belmont College, and the Nashville School of Law. Turner has been chair of the Nashville Bar Association Memorial Service Committee from 2017 through 2022. Turner has overseen many changes within the committee’s Memorial Service event. The Nashville Bar Association has held Services for more than 100 years to remember and honor Nashville attorneys who have died. Memorial Resolutions presented at past Memorial Services are available for viewing on the Nashville Bar website, and recordings of the Memorial Services beginning with the Fall 2020 Service are available on the Nashville Bar YouTube channel. As chair, Turner believes that this bi-annual event should be attended by all.
Turner is a Member of the Nashville Bar Association Historical Committee, Estate Planning and Probate Committee, Chancery and Circuit Court Committee, General Sessions Court Committee, Solo and Small Firm Committee, and a Nashville Bar Fellow.
Turner has had a solo practice for more than twenty years and primarily represents small business owners and their families in a wide variety of matters and in most courts, including General Sessions, Circuit, Chancery, Probate, Federal District, and Bankruptcy Courts.
For the majority of Turner’s life, he has been active in the community, including going door to door in elementary school to raise money to help save Radnor Lake, volunteering with the Boulevard Bolt, participating in tree plantings, volunteering with Room in the Inn and Habitat for Humanity, and participating in Susan G. Komen walks for the Cure.
Mary H. Beard is the Senior HR Counsel for HCA Healthcare, where she primarily advises the Chief Human Resources Officer and her senior executive team. Before her tenure at HCA Healthcare, Beard was Senior Counsel/Labor and Employment with FedEx Corporation, being a business partner and counsel to the most senior executives at the parent company as well as three corporate subsidiaries.
Beard graduated from Alabama A&M University as Valedictorian with a perfect 4.0 and the Vanderbilt School of Law where she was a founding member and editor of The Journal of Entertainment Law & Practice. Through the years, Beard has expanded her practice area with the evolution of the practice of labor and employment law, providing advice and counsel also on other matters such as technology contracts, employee data privacy and anti-trust.
Committed to making a positive impact in her community, Beard has shared her many talents and leadership expertise with countless professional, civic, and charitable organizations. An active member of the Tennessee Bar Association, Beard currently serves as its Chief Diversity Officer and has held several other leadership positions. She is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Association, Memphis Bar Association, and Tennessee Bar As-
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sociation Young Lawyers Division. Beard is a former chair and co-chair of the Tennessee Judicial Nominating Commission, and the first woman of color to hold the position. Additionally, Beard serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Alignment Nashville. She received the Presidential Award from the National Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association.
Beard has been committed to bar issues, including wellness, diversity, and needs of attorneys based on practice area and type of practice. Her focus has been to ensure attorneys have wellness resources due to the jealous mistress of the profession, increase diversity of the bar including people of color, women, persons with disabilities, age, and practice subject area. As an attorney who has worked in a small firm, large firm, and in-house, her passion is to make sure the bar has resources for the specific needs of attorneys in each of those practice settings. Beard also wishes to expand the career development and advancement resources for attorneys who are returning to the practice and/or transitioning their practice to a different practice setting or to a non-practicing role.
In her spare time, Beard immensely enjoys domestic and international travel, interior decorating, and serving as an armchair coach and quarterback for the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs.
Rob Peal is a partner at Sims | Funk, PLC. Rob enjoys a diverse practice focused on complex litigation, and he handles both criminal defense and civil trials. Peal graduated Order of the Coif from Vanderbilt Law School, where he was Associate Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review and served on the Moot Court Board. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, earning a Bachelor of Science (with Merit) in Mechanical Engineering. Before entering the civil practice of law, he served in the US Marine Corps, first flying the F/A-18D as a flight officer, followed by service as a Judge Advocate senior prosecutor and law center director. While on duty, Peal deployed three times, serving in Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), and Iraqi Freedom. Peal is a graduate of the Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law Class of 2015 and was selected a Nashville Bar Foundation Fellow in 2022. For the past two years, he has co-chaired the Nashville Bar Association Chancery and Circuit Court Committee. Daniel L. Clayton received his JD from University of Tennessee and his BA from Lipscomb University. He currently operates The Law Office of Daniel L. Clayton. Service has been a significant pillar in his life and that of his family – whether it was being an elected member of the Franklin Special School District Board of Education or serving as foster parents to 25 children. In the legal community. Clayton has been on the Board of Trustees of the Nashville Bar Foundation since 2016, and currently serves as its President, with his term expiring at the end of this year. He has participated in the Mentoring Program for the NBF Leadership Forum and a volunteer for the Habitat for Humanity service project. Most recently, Clayton was honored to be a member of the search committee for the Nashville Bar Association’s new Executive Director. While two of his areas of interest include CLE programs and community outreach, Clayton’s main interest is being used where he can best serve and grow the Nashville Bar Association, both in numbers and in camaraderie.
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