Faculty Profile: Deborah Stevens

Judge Stevens was appointed as the Circuit Court Judge for Knox County, Division III by Governor Bill Haslam in March of 2013. Prior to taking the bench, she was a shareholder and for many years, served as President, of the Knoxville office of Lewis King (now Lewis Thomason). Her practice was primarily in the area of the defense of litigation claims involving product liability, professional liability, and insurance coverage. She has tried more than a hundred lawsuits in federal and state courts throughout Tennessee and in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Mississippi. She received the TBA President's Award in 2012 in recognition of her work as chair of the Task Force on Women in the Profession. For a number of years she was on the faculty of the ABA TIPS/ABOTA National Trial Academy held at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. In addition to being a member of the ABA, TBA and KBA she is a member of the Hamilton Burnett Inn of Court in Knoxville and the Knoxville Bar Foundation. She is actively involved in her community and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of the YWCA Knoxville and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Knoxville Area Urban League and the Cancer Support Community of East Tennessee. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech and a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law. She and her husband have one adult daughter.