Background Check

BACKGROUND CHECK Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle | Bart Pickett

In less than a year, Nashville will lose one of its most respected trial judges. Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle will hang up her robe after a 20+ year career on the bench. Anyone who has been before the Chancellor knows her attention to detail and the careful analysis she employs. Lyle, a 5th generation Nashville native, credits her style to her high school alma mater, Harpeth Hall. The school, where she took five years of Latin, instilled a love of literature and textual analysis. Lyle’s family lived off Otter Creek Road on a former family farm in the hills south of Percy Priest School where she attended elementary school. She grew up the second of four children to a father who was a chemical engineer in management at the Ford Glass Plant and a mother who was a homemaker.

In 1975, Lyle attended college at UT in Knoxville where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an English major and added electives in business and theatre, and acted in plays including stints at a dinner theater.

She had known since high school that she wanted to go to law school, solidified by serving as high school student body president and a “winterim” studying the legal profession. Lyle stayed in Knoxville and in 1978 attended UT College of Law. While there, she made friends from across the state that continue to this day. She served on law review, moot court board, and the international moot court team. She also served as the SBA secretary under the leadership of SBA president John Tarpley.

Following her graduation in 1981, Lyle took a job with Fulbright and Jaworski in Houston, Texas, one of the country’s largest firms at the time. Lyle was assigned to an oil and gas litigation section and developed an interest and experience in commercial litigation. She remembers her first research assignment was on piercing the corporate veil. Lyle returned to her hometown after 3 years in Houston, and joined Trabue, Sturdivant & DeWitt in litigation. She advanced to partner at the firm before being appointed by then-governor Don Sundquist to a chancery position in 1995. Since then, Lyle has served the people of Davidson County as a chancellor for over three terms. She particularly enjoyed being the first judge assigned by the Tennessee Supreme Court to preside over the Business Court Pilot Project.

A hornet’s nest, turkey feathers, and geodes sit next to law books in her office. Growing up, Lyle sometimes accompanied her dad and brother, Bill, hunting and fishing, and learned gardening from grandmothers and a great aunt. But with the increasing demands of school and work, Lyle jokingly acknowledges she’s spent a lot of time in the library or behind a computer. She now wants to revert to her earlier days and plans to spend as much time outdoors as possible. She loves working in her vegetable and flower gardens and walking. She and her husband have camped out west and walked parts of Ireland, England, Italy and France. She additionally plans some work in the law part-time to the extent it enhances her life.

She does not have to look far for an example of post-judicial life. Lyle has been married to former Circuit Court Judge Walter Kurtz since 1997. Kurtz has continued to take various part-time legal work while still leaving time to enjoy his hobbies. Kurtz and Lyle look forward to splitting their time between Nashville and a second home in Sewanee. The couple loves to travel. One of Lyle’s favorite destinations is Santa Monica, California, where Lyle’s daughter lives and works as a Content Designer for Paypal’s shopping platform, Honey.

On August 31, 2022, less than two weeks after Lyle’s 65th birthday, her time on the bench will officially end. Chancellor Lyle thanks the people of Davidson County and all the attorneys who have appeared before her over the years. 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 well in the United States.

Finally, John Tarpley, who had just flown back into town, introduced his classmate and friend, Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, a beacon for the Rule of Law for her entire tenure as a Davidson County Chancellor. Chancellor Lyle was able, in a very short and moving speech, to compliment her husband, Walter Kurtz, and, at the same time, pull his chain; reflect upon the strides our chancery court has made under her leadership and hard work; and make certain that everyone at the event was aware of the hard work and dedication of her staff, and the staff of the Chancery Court.

Upon leaving this year’s Law Day celebration, those of us who have been around a while, along with those who are just beginning or at the middle of their legal careers, departed with a level of optimism and thankfulness for being blessed with the opportunity to practice this noble profession. Let’s hope that each of us can retain that optimism as we continue to do what we can to advance the rule of law. n

BILL RAMSEY is an attorney with Neal & Harwell, where his primary focus is complex civil and criminal litigation. He also has a significant entertainment law practice representing artists and entertainers. Welcome 2022 NBA President,

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