Faculty Profile: Hon. Randal Mashburn

Hon. Randal S. Mashburn has been a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee since 2012 and currently serves as Chief Judge. He also is in his second term as a member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Sixth Circuit and serves as its Chief Judge.  Before going on the bench, Judge Mashburn’s practice focused heavily on business disputes, bankruptcy, debtor-creditor issues, workouts, and insolvency law.  He spent nearly three decades representing a wide range of parties in bankruptcy and commercial litigation, as well as serving as a court-appointed bankruptcy examiner and Chapter 11 trustee.  He frequently served as mediator, particularly in disputes involving complex business and financial matters.  

Most of his legal career was spent at Baker Donelson, where he served stints as practice group chair, board member, and in a variety of other management and leadership roles.  Judge Mashburn has served on the Board of Directors of the Nashville Bar Association and is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation.  He was a founding member and past President of the Tennessee Association of Professional Mediators, is a past president of the Mid-South Commercial Law Institute and served for several years as a board member of the Nashville Conflict Resolution Center. 

During his tenure on the bench, Judge Mashburn has continued to conduct mediations and judicial settlement conferences in cases pending before other bankruptcy judges (in the Middle District of Tennessee and Delaware) as well as for judges of the United States District Court.  Before beginning his legal practice, he served as a judicial law clerk for judges on the United States District Court and the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  He has contributed to dozens of publications and has spoken frequently on alternative dispute resolution, bankruptcy, and debtor-creditor issues for bar associations, industry groups and continuing legal education programs.