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Biography Overview

Kathryn Barnett is the Managing Partner of Morgan & Morgan’s Nashville office, which was named one of 2015’s “Best Law Firms” by U.S. News and World Report and Best Lawyers. She grew up in North Carolina and graduated from Davidson College, with Honors, in 1989. She graduated from Vanderbilt School of Law in 1992, where she achieved the highest grade in the class in Torts I and Jurisprudence.

Ms. Barnett has been taking on insurance companies and big business for nearly twenty years. In 2013, she represented a family at trial against two multi-billion dollar corporations in a wrongful death case, winning a $26 million jury verdict. In 2010, she represented an entrepreneur wronged by its former partner, winning an $8 million arbitration award against the wrongdoer. She served as lead trial counsel in two class action trials in the Multi-District Litigation lawsuit arising from the mishandling of remains at Tri-State Crematory. These cases settled well into both trials, for combined judgments of over $120 million. She also served as lead counsel in a class action against the Georgia Farm Bureau regarding insurance coverage, which resulted in an $18 million settlement. In addition to these examples, she has won for her clients many other verdicts and settlements that exceed $1 million.

Kathryn Barnett has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America, “Nashville’s Best Lawyers” every year from 2010 to 2017, and in Thompson Reuters’ Super Lawyers as a Mid-South Super-Lawyer every year from 2006 to 2016, as one of the Top 50 Women Mid-South Super Lawyers every year from 2011 to 2015, and as one of the Top 100 Tennessee Super Lawyers every year from 2010 to 2015 and one of the Top 50 Attorneys in Nashville in 2015. Kathryn has also been included for many successive years among the Nashville “Lawyers In Charge” published by the Nashville Post, the “Best of the Bar” published by the Nashville Business Journal and the “150 Best Lawyers in Tennessee” published by Business Tennessee. Because of her experience and accomplishments, she has lectured extensively on trial, complex litigation and related topics to other lawyers and to law students. Most recently, she was included in the 2017 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of plaintiffs’ personal injury litigation and plaintiffs’ product liability litigation. Additionally, she was named Best Lawyers’ Nashville Plaintiffs’ Product Liability Litigation “Lawyer of the Year,” an award received by only one attorney in each practice area in each community throughout the country in 2012, 2015 and 2017.

Ms. Barnett is a member of the Executive Committee of the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court, as well as a former President of the Nashville Lawyers’ Association for Women, former First Vice President of the Nashville Bar Association, former Vice President of the Tennessee Association for Justice, and former Chair of the Tennessee Judicial Conference’s Bench/Bar Committee.

Practice Areas

• Class Action
• Consumer Protection
• Personal Injury
• Product Liability

Recent Successes

• Thomas v. Marshall County School System

  $518,500.00

  Verdict - 2017

In The Media

• Nashville Office Wins 500K Jury Award in Racial Discrimination Suit

  Nashville Post

Awards & Recognitions

• Best Lawyers in America – “Nashville’s Best Lawyers,” 2010-2014
• Best Lawyers in America - Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs’ and Product Liability Litigation - Plaintiffs’, 2015
• Best Lawyers in America - Nashville Product Liability Litigation Plaintiffs’ “Lawyer of the Year,” 2015
• Super Lawyers – “Top 50 Women Mid-South Super Lawyer,” 2006-2014
• Super Lawyers – “Top 100 Tennessee Super Lawyer,” 2010-2014
• Lawdragon – “Lawdragon Finalist,” 2009-2011
• Nashville Post – “Nashville Lawyers in Charge,” 2010-Present
• Nashville Business Journal – “Best of the Bar,” 2003, 2005-2010
• Business Tennessee – “150 Best Lawyers in Tennessee,” 2006-2009

Bar Admissions

• U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
• U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennesee

Memberships

• American Association for Justice
• American Association of Trial Lawyers
• Harry Phillips American Inn of Courts – Executive Committee, 2004-2013; Member, 1997-1999, 2004-2013
• Nashville Bar Association – First Vice President, 2007; Board Member, 2005-2008
• Nashville Bar Foundation
• Nashville Lawyer’s Association for Women – President, 2004-2005; President-elect, 2004; Director, 2002-2003; Treasurer, 2000-2002; Nominating Committee, 2007; Board Member, 1998-2005
• Tennessee Association for Justice – Vice President for the Middle Section, 2011; Treasurer, 2010; Executive Committee, 2008-2009; Secretary, 2007-2009; Chair, Continuing Education Committee, 2004-2006; Board of Governors, 2002-2009
• Tennessee Bar Association
• Tennessee Justice Center, Inc. – Board of Directors, 2002-2005; Secretary-Treasurer, 2003-2004
• Tennessee Judicial Conference – Bench/Bar Committee Chair, 2009-2010
• Tennessee Metropolitan Board of Equalization – Davidson County, 2000-2004

Education

• Davidson College*, B.A. in Philosophy, *with honors, 1989
• Vanderbilt University School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1992