Cornelia A. Clark

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cornelia A. Clark (born September 15, 1950) is a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Clark was born in Franklin, Tennessee. She received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1971. She subsequently earned the M.A.T. at Harvard University in 1972 and the Juris Doctorate degree from the Vanderbilt University Law School in 1979. She engaged in the private practice of law with the former firm of Farris, Warfield & Kanaday from 1979 to 1989. She served as circuit judge for the 21st Judicial District of Tennessee from 1989 to 1999. She is a member of the Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women and has served as Second Vice President of the Nashville Bar Association. She is named a Fellow of the Nashville, Tennessee, and American Bar Foundations, and member of the Williamson County Bar Association. She is also a member of American Judiciature Society. She served for 10 years as an adjunct professor at the Vanderbilt Law School. She has also served as a faculty member of the American Academy of Judicial Education. In 2004, she was named as one of 21 members to the American Bar Association Commission on the American Jury. From May of 1999 to September of 2005 she served as Director of the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts. While in the position, she was one of three nominees chosen by the judicial selection commission created under the Tennessee Plan for potential appointment to a vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court and was the one selected by Governor of Tennessee Phil Bredesen. Her Supreme Court service began in September of 2005. In June of 2006, she was recommended by the judicial retention commission for a full eight-year term on the Supreme Court and was approved by Tennessee voters for such in August of 2006.[1]