As a lawyer, a mother and an adjunct professor in Belmont’s College of Law, Anne Martin is known for many things in the Nashville community, but she is striving to add another title to her list — chancery court judge.
With 25 years of courtroom experience, running for chancery court judge seemed like the next logical step in Martin’s career in law. She is currently an attorney at the Bone McAllester Norton Law Firm, where she focuses on business litigation and employment, representing both individuals and businesses.
Martin has practiced heavily in chancery court throughout her career, and has handled over 150 cases in Davidson and surrounding counties.
“Being a judge is not for everyone, but for many people being a judge is sort of the pinnacle of having been a successful litigator,” said Martin. “It’s a nice transition, but it’s still in the same sort of type of work that you’ve been doing. You’re just doing it from a different perspective.”
Additionally, Martin has been an adjunct professor at Belmont’s College of Law for four years. She teaches a fall semester class called Client Interviewing, Counseling and Communicating, consisting primarily of third-year law students. The course teaches students about the attorney-client relationship and the importance of effectively communicating with clients.
“Everything I have done has really prepared me for this,” said Martin. “The concept of using everything I have learned and accomplished to become a fulltime public servant — to be a problem solver — feels satisfying at this point in my career.”
If elected chancery court judge, Martin wants to have a courtroom where everyone is treated fairly, and where everyone has a full and fair opportunity to be heard. She wants her court to move cases along as efficiently as possible.
“I want people, whether they win or lose, to feel like I was prepared, and I did my best to weigh everybody’s interests and do the right thing based upon the laws and the facts,” she said.
For years, Martin has done volunteer work throughout the community both as a lawyer and as a citizen and is excited to do her part to help improve her community.
“I’m very excited about this new role which gives me a new and different opportunity to make Nashville a better place to live and to give back to the community,” said Martin.
When Martin made the decision to run for chancery court judge, she wasn’t only thinking about her professional aspirations, she also had the needs of her son Clay in mind. She has had to balance the stress of campaigning with the responsibilities of her everyday life.
The campaign process has been incredibly stressful and time consuming, as Martin has worked hard to connect with the many different groups of people and organizations across Davidson County.
“I say it’s the most wonderful, horrible thing I have ever done,” said Martin. “I compare it to childbirth; you have no idea how hard it is going to be and all you can do is keep moving forward and you hope after it’s all over you look back on it calmly and think ‘I can do that again!’”
With the election process winding down, Martin encourages everyone to get out and vote.
“Most people don’t pay attention to judicial elections,” said Martin. “What people don’t realize is how important they are and the impact these local races have on their lives.”
Early voting for Davidson County began April 11 and will run through April 26. The Democratic primary will be held on May 1.
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This article written by Nicole Brown. Photo courtesy of Anne Martin.