Haslam Appoints McBrayer to Tennessee Court of Appeals

McBrayer to serve as Middle Section judge

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on Friday appointed W. Neal McBrayer as a judge for the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Middle Section.

McBrayer will replace Presiding Judge Patricia J. Cottrell, who will not serve an additional term of office.

“Neal McBrayer has a strong background as an attorney, and I am pleased to make this appointment,” Haslam said. “We are fortunate to have someone on the bench with his experience and expertise.”  

McBrayer, 50, is an attorney at Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC in its Nashville office, concentrating on areas of commercial litigation and bankruptcy law. He was previously at Miller & Martin from 1999-2012 and at Trabue, Sturdivant & DeWitt from 1989-1998.

“I am honored by the governor’s selection and look forward to serving the people of the Middle Section on the Court of Appeals,” McBrayer said. “I will do my utmost to uphold the trust that the governor has placed in me.”

McBrayer received his juris doctorate from the College of William & Mary in Virginia in 1989 where he was an editor of the William & Mary Law Review. He received a bachelor’s degree, graduating magna cum laude, from Maryville College in 1986.

Since 2001, McBrayer has served as a Twentieth Judicial Circuit Delegate to the Tennessee Bar Association House of Delegates. He is a fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation and has been recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America” and as a Mid-South Super Lawyer. McBrayer is past president of the Mid-South Commercial Law Institute.

He has been a member of the City of Brentwood Planning Commission, first appointed in March 2009, and he serves on the city’s Environmental Advisory Board.

McBrayer and his wife, Kelly, live in Brentwood.