John D. Kitch, Of Counsel

Before joining Cornelius & Collins, John Kitch was a practicing solo lawyer in Tennessee for more than thirty-eight years. His practice focuses on the representation of public school systems, civil trial and appellate practice in state and federal courts, and estate planning and probate matters. A graduate of Purdue University and Vanderbilt Law School, he is a former law clerk for Justice Joe Henry of the Tennessee Supreme Court, a former adjunct faculty member at Vanderbilt Law School, and a current faculty member at the Nashville School of Law. He also served a six year term on the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, having been appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court in January of 2015.

He is a past president, a past first vice president and two-time member of the Board of Directors of the Nashville Bar Association, a Fellow and a past president of the Nashville Bar Foundation, Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation, and a past president of the Tennessee Council of School Board Attorneys. He is a member of the Nashville, Tennessee and American Bar Associations, the Marion Griffin Chapter of the Lawyers’ Association for Women and the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court, where he is a Master of the Bench Emeritus and member of the Executive Committee.

In July of 1997 the American Bar Association honored him as the Sole Practitioner of the Year at its annual convention in San Francisco in the first year the award was presented.

Practice Areas:

• General Litigation
• Probate, Wills, and Estates
• Tort, Insurance Defense, and Product Liability

Bar Admissions:

• State of Tennessee
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
• United States District Court, Western, Middle and Eastern Districts of Tennessee

Professional Associations:

• American Bar Association
• Tennessee Bar Association
• Nashville Bar Association
  – President, 2012; Vice-President, 1997
• Nashville Bar Foundation
  – President, 1999, 2000
• Harry Phillips American Inn of Court
  – Master of the Bench, 1996-present
  – Executive Committee, 1996-present
• Lawyer’s Association for Women
• Tennessee Council of School Board Attorneys
  – President, 1996-1997

Honors & Awards:

• John Marshall School of Law
  • Bobby Lee Cook Practical Legal Symposium; Speaker, 2014
• American Bar Association; Sole Practitioner of the Year, 1997
• Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation
• Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation
• Nashville Business Journal; “Best of the Bar”, 2008, 2009
• Nashville Bar Association; President’s Award, 1990
• The American Bar Association Journal; Profiled, October 1991
• Martindale-Hubbell; AV rating

Publications:

• “Red Flags: Avoiding the Bad Client” Author, SOLO, 2010
• “Practice Interrupted: Preparing for Disaster, Disability and Death” Author, GP/Solo, 2010
• “Ethics for School Board Lawyers: Representation Within the Bounds” Author, TN School Board Assoc. Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1, 2003
• “Proving and Disproving Punitive Damages” Author, The Journal of the Section of Litigation of the American Bar
• Association, Vol. 21, No. 2, 1994. Reprinted in “The Litigation Manual,” Section of Litigation of the American Bar Association, 1999

Civic & Community Activities:

• St. David’s Episcopal Church
• Vestry, 2014-2017, 2018 – present
• Junior Warden, 2016
• Senior Warden, 2021

Fraternities:

• Sigma Pi
  • Past International President
  • Former General Counsel