Faculty Profile: Diane Vescovo

Diane K. Vescovo, United States Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Tennessee, was appointed to the bench on June 15, 1995. Judge Vescovo graduated from the University of Virginia in 1977, Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors. She received her law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 1980, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Memphis Law Review. Upon graduation, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Harry W. Wellford, then U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee. She then joined her father, Lloyd C. Kirkland, Jr., in his law practice where she practiced for five years. Beginning in 1987, she served as in-house litigation counsel for International Paper Company for six years, before returning to private practice. Judge Vescovo is a member of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association and serves on its Board of Directors as the Sixth Circuit representative. She is a member of the Memphis Bar Association, is past chair of the Memphis Bar Association Bench Bar Conference and will serve as co-chair of the 2016 Bench Bar Conference. She is a master member of the Leo Bearman, Sr. American Inn of Court and currently serves as the Inn’s Program Chair. Off the bench, she serves on the University of Memphis Alumni Association Executive Board of Directors and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law Advisory Board. Previously she served on the Board of Visitors for the University of Memphis, as President of the Board of the University of Memphis Law Alumni Association, on the University of Memphis Tiger Athletics Advisory Board of Directors and on the Board of Youth Villages, Inc. She also serves on the University of Virginia Jefferson Scholarship Regional Selection Committee for the State of Arkansas. Judge Vescovo is married to Mike McLaren, a partner at the law firm of Black, McLaren, Jones, Ryland, and Griffee, P.C. She has two sons, Nic Vescovo and Stephen Vescovo, two step-children, and five grandchildren. Her son Nic is an associate attorney at the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. Her step-son, Michael McLaren, is an associate at the law firm of Butler Snow.