To ensure the best candidate is selected, Emison said the nominees undergo a background check with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, as well as a credit check. In addition, the applicants fill out a lengthy application ranging up to 40 pages. Included in the application are samples of the candidates' legal briefs and opinions from past cases. Commission members will receive the packets in the coming days for review.
The next step in the process takes place at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The commission will host a public hearing at the Williamson County Judicial Center, where members of the public and other attorneys will be able to voice their approval or disapproval of the candidates. Each candidate has the option of designating up to three people to speak on their behalf with 10 minutes apiece. The applicants are expected to be present but will not be permitted to make public statements.
After the public hearing, the commission, which includes lawyers and laypeople, will interview each candidate. After the interviews, the commission will select three names to recommend to Bredesen. The top candidates will then undergo an additional round of interviews with the governor's office before Bredesen makes his appointment.
Although Davies had six years remaining in his term, the appointed judge will have to run for a four-year term in the 2010 general election, according to state law. Finally, in the 2014 elections, the judge seat will be open again, this time for the full eight-year term.
Salary for the position is $148,524.
Meet the candidates
Dana Michelle Ausbrooks, 37
Position: assistant public defender, 21st Judicial District, since December 2005
Education: O’More College of Design, B.S. (1994); Nashville School of Law (2000)
Legal experience: eight years practicing law, specializing in criminal defense in Lewis, Perry, Hickman and Williamson counties
Awards/honors: president, Williamson County Bar Association (2006)
James Patrick Catalano, 36
Position: partner, Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan PLLC, Nashville
Education: William Jewell College (1993); Cumberland School of Law at Samford University (1997)
Legal experience: 11 years practicing law, specializing in civil litigation and appeals, construction liability, food and drug liability
Awards/honors: Named partner in 2004
Joy Burns Day, 38
Position: managing partner, Sutter, O’Connell & Farchione
Education: University of Tennessee; University of Tennessee College of Law; Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Legal experience: 12 years practicing law, specializing in civil litigation
Awards/honors: Certified Civil Trial Specialist awarded by National Board of Trial Advocacy (2006), Certified Civil Trial Specialist awarded by Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization (2006), Excellence in Contracts awarded by Corpus Juris Secundum (1994)
Dana Lloyd Dye, 57
Position: attorney, Dye & Vander Horst PC
Education: Wake Forest University; Duke University School of Law
Legal experience: 32 years; former county attorney for Hickman County; specializes in civil and criminal law, trial experience
Dennis J. Garvey, 49
Position: Deputy attorney general of Tennessee for the Antitrust Division
Education: Indiana University; Baylor University School of Law
Legal experience: 24 years, specializing in civil and criminal
Awards/honors: board-certified in criminal law by the Texas Bar Association Board of Specialists-Criminal Law; ranked 12th out of 196 in freshman law class at Ohio Northern College of Law; invited into Law Review as a college freshman
Lela Merrall Hollabaugh, 41
Position: partner, Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis LLP
Education: University of Tennessee; University of Tennessee School of Law
Legal experience: 17 years, specializing in civil litigation
Awards/honors: voted “Best of the Bar” by Nashville Business Journal
James “Jim” Martin III, 60
Position: partner, Stites & Harbison
Education: Vanderbilt University; Vanderbilt University Law School
Legal experience: 34 years, specializing in family law, trial practice, alternative dispute resolution
Awards/honors: listed in Best Lawyers of America for more than 10 years; named “Best of the Bar” by Nashville Business Journal (2004-08); listed on “Business Tennessee” list for 150 Best Lawyers for 2008
John D. Schwalb, 49
Position: managing partner, Williams & Schwalb, PLLC
Education: University of Utah; University of Mississippi School of Law
Legal experience: 23 years, specializing in civil law, trial practice, wrongful death, criminal, education
Awards/honors: graduated cum laude from University of Utah, author, bar admission to U.S. Supreme Court in 1988
Derek Smith: 41
Position: deputy district attorney for the Office of the District Attorney General, 21st Judicial District.
Education: Vanderbilt University
Legal Experience: 16 years, began working in the Office of the District of Attorney as a trial attorney in 1992
Awards/honors: one of founding board members of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in Williamson County; received numerous awards from Domestic Violence Task Force and Mothers Against Drunk Driving; lecturer at Brentwood Citizens Police Academy
Christopher Kim Thompson, 55
Position: partner, Shuttleworth Williams PLLC
Education: Georgia State University; Nashville School of Law J.D.
Legal Experience: 17 years, specializing in personal injury and auto law, workers’ compensation, criminal, malpractice law
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