Faculty Profile: J. Leigh Griffith

In his more than 35 years of practicing tax and business law, Leigh Griffith has helped clients grow their businesses from the start-up stage to billion-dollar corporations. Transaction-oriented businesses, healthcare companies, private equity firms, Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), and partnerships rely on Leigh's experience and counsel to structure their tax matters, which can range from a few million dollars to over $1 billion. Colleagues and clients regularly turn to him for his deep knowledge of tax at the state, national and global levels as well as the intersection of non-profit tax law, for-profit tax law and healthcare regulatory law. Leigh's background as a certified public accountant has contributed to groundbreaking legal work, including: creation of the first LLC in Tennessee; development of the Double Holdco LLC structure for the home healthcare industry; being named principal draftsman of the Tennessee LLC Act; participating in the first life insurance/annuity combination securitization, recognized by the rating agencies as a new security and a new asset class; American Bar Association Tax Section Advisor to National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws - Series of Unincorporated Business Entities Drafting Committee. One of approximately 650 Fellows of the American College of Tax Counsel, Leigh is also a sought-after seminar leader for continuing professional education programs. Leigh contributes a bimonthly column, The Pass Through Partner" in Taxes Magazine, published by CCH Tax and Accounting. Leigh has been recognized for his vast tax law experience in The Best Lawyers in America since 1995. A partner in the Nashville office of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP, Leigh earned his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School. He holds an LL.M. in Taxation from New York University and earned his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Virginia."