Faculty Profile: Dixie Cooper

Selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers of America and Tennessee Super Lawyers Mid-South in the specialty of medical malpractice defense, Dixie W. Cooper’s practice focuses entirely on the representation of healthcare professionals.  

Mrs. Cooper graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law. She has been a licensed, practicing attorney in Alabama, Texas and South Carolina before moving to Nashville with her husband, Mark, to complete his surgery critical care fellowship at Vanderbilt Medical Center.  She has been defending physicians, hospitals and other healthcare professionals in Nashville for almost 30 years.

Mrs. Cooper’s litigation experience includes successfully defending physicians, nurses and hospitals in jury trials ranging from brain damaged baby and shoulder dystocia cases, to wrongful death lawsuits, and severe personal injury claims involving paralysis, permanent disfigurement and adults with catastrophic brain injuries.  She is also experienced in handling corrective action matters for hospitals and assisting healthcare professions in licensure actions involving the Department of Health and BME.

Her extensive trial experience provided the avenue for her membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). Mrs. Cooper has been voted by her peers to Fellow status with the Nashville Bar Foundation. She has been selected to the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers™. Mrs. Cooper was a founding member of Gideon, Cooper & Essary, PLC, which was recognized with a First Tier ranking in the specialty of medical malpractice law by US News Best Law Firms.  In 2020, she decided to open her own practice and has 3 attorneys formerly with Gideon, Cooper & Essary,  who make up the members of Cumberland Litigation, PLLC.