Faculty Profile: Hon. Suzanne Bauknight

Honorable Suzanne H. Bauknight was sworn in as United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee (at Knoxville) on November 10, 2014.  Before her appointment, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney for ten years and was Chief of the Civil Division for the last eight years. As an AUSA, Judge Bauknight represented various federal agencies in a wide variety of civil matters, including bankruptcy and collection of civil and criminal debt. As Civil Chief, she was appointed by United States Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., as a member of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee during her time as Chair of the Department of Justice's Civil Chiefs Working Group. A native of Hickory, North Carolina, Judge Bauknight received her Bachelor of Arts degree in international studies magna cum laude with honors from the South Carolina Honors College at the University of South Carolina in 1994 and her law degree magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she attended on full scholarship and graduated second in her class in 1997. Judge Bauknight served as law clerk to the Honorable C. Tolbert Goolsby, Jr., Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Prior to joining the United States Attorney's Office, Judge Bauknight was an associate in the Knoxville, Tennessee office of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, where she practiced in the areas of commercial and employment litigation. Judge Bauknight is a member of the Tennessee, South Carolina, and Knoxville Bar Associations, serving for several years as Co-Chair of the KBA's Government and Public Service Sector Lawyers' Section. She also is an Emeritus Master of the Bench of the Hamilton Burnett Chapter of the American Inns of Court, serving as President of the chapter in 2014-15. Judge Bauknight also has taught for several years as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law and as an instructor for the Department of Justices National Advocacy Center.
Judge Bauknight resides in Powell, Tennessee, with her husband, Jamie, and their two daughters.