Faculty Profile: Russ Overby

Russ Overby, Lead Attorney for Health and Benefits, is a graduate of Wheaton College and a 1974 graduate Vanderbilt Law School. He worked at the Legal Aid Society in Nashville from 1974 until 1993 and was lead counsel in several significant federal and state cases involving public benefits and the rights of children in state institutions. He was a Clinical Instructor at Vanderbilt from 1974 to 1977. In 1993 he became managing attorney of the Legal Aid Society's Murfreesboro office. From 1997 to 2005 he worked as the Welfare Reform Lawyer at the Tennessee Justice Center. He rejoined the Legal Aid Society in 2006, where he handles health and public benefits cases. He has written extensively about public benefits issues and conducted training on the topic for national audiences. He received the State Advocate of the Year Award from the Tennessee Conference on Social Welfare in 1998 and the Harry Chapin Advocacy Award from MANNA in 1997. In 2008 the Tennessee Bar Association awarded him its Ashley T. Wiltshire Public Service Attorney of the Year Award. In 2011 the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services gave him its B. Riney Green Award for his commitment to improving collaboration among public interest advocates in the state. His interests include following the Chicago White Sox and swimming.