Faculty Profile: Anne Russell

Anne Russell joined Adams and Reese in 2000 and focuses her practice on civil litigation with emphasis on probate litigation, antenuptial agreements, alternative dispute resolution and estates. She also handles family law and personal injury matters. She is certified in Civil Mediation in Tennessee pursuant to Rule 31, Tennessee Supreme Court.

She holds a doctorate from the University of Tennessee and received her mediation training in a post-graduate study program at Harvard University.

Practicing law in Nashville since 1984, Anne served as an instructor in Wills, Probate and Trusts at the Nashville School of Law as well as Adjunct Professor of Law at Belmont University School of Law teaching Professional Skills. She has served on the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy in the Trial Skills and Mediation/Negotiation Program since 1990 and on the CLE Faculty, Nashville Bar Association since 1988. She is a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Association Foundation and a Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation.

Anne is also former chair of the Tennessee Lawyers Fund for Client Protection and is an alumna of Leadership Nashville.

Her other significant contributions include:

• Appointment by two governors to the Tennessee Judicial Council.
• Achieving Master of the Bar in the American Inns of Court. She also coached an all-female mock trial team for 14 years.
• Numerous presentations on antenuptial agreements, probate law, family law and civil litigation. She has written for the Nashville Bar Journal on Prenuptial and Post-Nuptial agreements.
• Named among Nashville Business Journal's "Women of Influence;" selected by the Nashville School of Law as its "Distinguished Alumni for 2008;" and earned Best Lawyers distinction in Litigation and Controversy Tax Law in 2013 and 2014.
• Receiving the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville's highest honor, the Alexis de Tocqueville Society Award, in 2007. She also became the first woman to receive the Thomas F. Frist, Jr. "Excellence in Volunteer Leadership Award," given by United Way. Anne serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, Chair of the Board, Campaign Chair and de Tocqueville Chair.
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Anne also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Nashville Symphony where she is founder of the Stradivarius Society and Virtuoso Society for leadership gifts. Anne is a National Trustee for the National Symphony Orchestra of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She is also on the Board of Trustees for the Cheekwood Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens and the Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson, and has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center by Governor Phil Bredesen.

Professionally, Anne has chaired the ADR Committee for the Nashville Bar and the Legal Education and Bar Committee for the Tennessee Bar, and is co-founder of the Nashville Conflict Resolution Center.

Anne is a founding director of Cumberland Trust Company. In her free time, she is a writer, reader, golfer, and international traveler. She is also a noted artist.