WILLIAM H. FARMER

Biography

Bill Farmer, a native Nashvillian, is a founding member of Farmer & Luna, PLLC and has extensive experience in civil and criminal cases, bench and jury, and trial and appellate practice before all Tennessee and federal tribunals. In his practice, he places emphasis on commercial, tort, probate and criminal litigation, land condemnation matters, and attorney discipline matters.

Mr. Farmer received his Bachelor of Science degree from Austin Peay State University in 1971. In 1974, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Tennessee. He is certified by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy to be a trial advocacy instructor completing his training at Harvard Law School in 1985. He has continually taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University Law School since 1985.

From 1974 to 1978, Mr. Farmer served as an Assistant U. S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. In 1978, he was appointed the first Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Tennessee, a post he held until 1984. From 1984 until 1986, Mr. Farmer served as Advocate General for the State of Tennessee. He began the private practice of law in 1986 as the founding partner of Farmer, Berry & Purcell. From 1990 to 2001, Mr. Farmer served as a member of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, PLLC.

Mr. Farmer served as a director of the Nashville Bar Association from 1984 through 1987, and again from 2000 through 2003. He also was President of the Federal Bar Association in 1981 and 1982, and the National Chairman of the Federal Defender Advisory Committee in 1983 and 1984. He served as a hearing officer for the Board of Professional Responsibility from 1985 to 1992, and Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority Land Commission for the Middle District of Tennessee from 1987 to the present. He is a master of the Harry Phillips Chapter of the American Inn of Court,  the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and the American Judicature Society. He is a fellow of both the Nashville and Tennessee Bar Foundations. He is a member of the Nashville and Tennessee Bar Associations and of  the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association. Mr. Farmer was a charter member of the Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission, has served as its Chairman, and was re-appointed in December 2004 as a member for a new, six-year term. Mr. Farmer has been recognized in "The Best Lawyers in America", a national peer-review survey, and is listed in that publication's 2002 through 2008 editions in the area of criminal law.