Faculty Profile: Ellen Lyle

Ellen LyleJAMS: Mediation, Arbitration and ADR Services
Previous Courses Taught (17)
  • Raising the Bar 2024
  • Raising The Bar Replay: Lessons Learned - Withstand, Regain and Grow
  • Raising The Bar: Lessons Learned - Withstand, Regain and Grow
  • Construction Law Forum 2023: The View from the Bench & the Arbitrator's Perspective
  • Raising The Bar: Lessons Learned - Withstand, Regain and Grow
  • Law Tech '21: Civil Judicial Panel
  • Construction Law Forum 2023: Trying a Construction Dispute
  • Raising the Bar: Recognizing Resiliency During Times of Change
  • Litigation Law 2021: Covid - What's Next?
  • Our 9-Month Journey Conducting Zoom Trials During the Pandemic
  • Construction Law 2021: Our 9-Month Journey Conducting Zoom Trials During the Pandemic
  • Litigation Law Forum 2021
  • Our 9-Month Journey Conducting Zoom Trials During the Pandemic
  • Construction Law Forum 2021
  • Tennessee Supreme Court Business Court Pilot Project
  • Litigation 2010: Injunctive Relief
  • Litigation 2010: What You Need to Know
Biography

Ellen Hobbs Lyle served 27 years as a Chancery Court Judge in the Twentieth Judicial District (Nashville/Davidson County) of Tennessee.  This is a civil law court that is assigned business and government cases.  During her tenure, Chancellor Lyle was selected by the Tennessee Supreme Court to launch and preside over the initial phase of their Business Court Pilot Project.  Her judicial career spans a broad spectrum of state and local government cases and business cases, including the 2007 litigation over the $1.5 billion Genesco/Finish Line merger.

In August of 2022, Chancellor Lyle retired from the bench and has joined JAMS Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. where she serves as an arbitrator, mediator and ADR neutral alongside retired Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge Patsy Cottrell.   JAMS is the world’s largest private alternative resolution provider.

Chancellor Lyle is the recipient of the Nashville Business Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2022), American Board of Trial Advocates’ Judicial Excellence Award (2021), Nashville Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award (2021), AgeWell Sage Award for Lifelong Commitment to Improving Community Life  (2023), Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services B. Riney Green Award (2023), and Harpeth Hall Outstanding Alumna Award (2018).

Prior to taking the bench, Chancellor Lyle was a partner in the law firm of Trabue, Sturdivant & DeWitt (1984-1995), and an associate attorney with Fulbright and Jaworski in Houston, Texas (1981-1984).   Chancellor Lyle is a fifth generation Nashvillian.