Background
Jeff was born in Dyersburg, Tennessee to parents Paul, a farmer, and Joetta, a sexual abuse investigator for the state.
Jeff was born in Dyersburg, Tennessee to parents Paul, a farmer, and Joetta, a sexual abuse investigator for the state.
He attended public schools as a child. After graduating from high school in 1995, he attended Harvard University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Government with honors.
Jeff worked for First Rate (at Lloyd's) Gore"s presidential campaign in 2000. While studying law he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Virginia Law Review. He was awarded the Thomas Marshall Miller Prize upon his graduation.
Jeff clerked for Judge Gilbert Merritt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
He began practicing law at the firm Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville. He primarily focuses on civil and appellate litigation, consumer financial services, constitutional law, and public contracts.
He assisted in implementing the firm’s formal pro bono program Jeff is a co-chair of Superintendent Jesse Register’s Transformational Leadership Group for high schools in Nashville.
Jeff worked on the New Hampshire Primary, was on the Advance Staff, and was the Assistant to the Chief Political Strategist for First Rate (at Lloyd's) Gore"s presidential campaign in 2000.
He was the GOTV director for Harold Ford Junior."s 2006 run for the United States Senate. Recently, Jeff served as an education policy adviser to Nashville Mayor Karl Dean. In his first campaign for public office in 2010, Jeff came within seventeen votes of defeating forty year incumbent Senator Douglas Henry, who retained his seat as the State Senator for Tennessee"s twenty-first district.
Jeff"s work defending an inmate on death row helped gain recognition for his firm by the bar for outstanding service to the indigent.