Cheatham County Insurance Defense Lawyers

Tom Shumate is the founder of Meridian Law, PLLC, which represents individuals and businesses across Tennessee in a variety of civil matters including business, contract, and employment litigation; disputes involving non-competition agreements and theft of trade secrets; insurance defense; personal injury and wrongful death actions; and probate cases. Mr. Shumate graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University in 1995 and from Notre Dame Law School in 1998. He has practiced in Nashville, Tennessee since that time. In 2011 and 2013, Mr. Shumate was selected as a “Rising Star” by the Mid-South edition of Super Lawyers Magazine. He...

Paul E. Tennison is passionate about helping clients solve complex legal challenges. Paul enjoys helping people understand the law and pick the most effective course of action to achieve their desired results. Paul was selected as a rising star by Super-Lawyers in 2023 and 2024 as well as selected as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Nashville in 2020. Paul has a diverse military, leadership, and legal background that affords him unique insight into many issues confronting Fields Howell's clients. Paul is prepared to help his clients navigate and resolve insurance, reinsurance coverage, and defense matters including general civil litigation,...

Jake D. Strawn is an associate attorney in Spicer Rudstrom’s Memphis office. He primarily focuses on insurance defense, premises liability, products liability and workers’ compensation.

Jake earned his J.D. at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis, where he graduated second in his class. While there, he earned five CALI awards—in Administrative Law, Business Organizations, Civil Procedure II, Secured Transactions and Products Liability—and served in several roles, including as Notes Editor for the University of Memphis Law Review, Vol. 46, and as Associate Chief Justice for the Honor Council. During his first year of law school,...

Jim Embrey is a Partner in our office in Nashville, Tennessee, and he focuses his practice on trucking and transportation, general liability, insurance coverage, professional negligence and medical malpractice, as well as professional malpractice and ethics.
Jim has represented numerous Fortune 500 companies and individual professionals as a trial lawyer, and honed his legal craft while working in-house as a Managing Counsel and General Counsel for major insurance corporations. This dual experience gives Jim unprecedented insight and knowledge to anticipate the needs of his clients and provide exceptional and effective service.
Earlier in his career, Jim served as an Airborne Infantryman in...