CLARKSVILLE, TN – Former City of Clarksville Deputy City Attorney Jeff T. Goodson has joined the law firm of Batson Nolan PLC.
Batson Nolan Managing Partner Mark Nolan commented, “we are excited to have Jeff join the firm. His depth of experience and extensive knowledge in litigation, real estate and the municipal areas of the law will be a great benefit to the firm and more importantly to our clients.”
Goodson obtained his law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, and obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. From 1994 until 2001, Goodson worked at Lovell Communications, Inc., a nationally known marketing communications firm, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. As an assistant account executive at Lovell, Goodson served as a ghost writer for physicians and business executives, and worked with “Yes for Nashville,” a group that was instrumental in bringing the NFL’s Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) to Tennessee. During his tenure at Lovell, Goodson also worked as the firm’s office manager and assistant to the president.
After graduating from law school in 2004, Goodson worked as an associate at the Law Office of John Cobb Rochford, PLLC, where he specialized in civil litigation, with a particular emphasis on real estate matters, title insurance recoupment claims, and complex business disputes. In 2008, Goodson formed the Law Office of Jeff T. Goodson, PLLC, and continued to work thereafter with John Cobb Rochford, one of Nashville’s leading real estate and title insurance practitioners, as his law partner.
In 2012, Goodson accepted an offer to join the City Attorney’s Office for the City of Clarksville, Tennessee as a staff attorney. In 2013, Goodson was promoted to Deputy City Attorney. As the Deputy City Attorney, Goodson served as chief of the City’s Litigation and Real Property Divisions, and served as legal advisor to the City’s Mayor, the City Council, and City department heads and employees. During his nearly decade-long tenure as in-house legal counsel for the City, Goodson developed extensive expertise surrounding the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act, the Tennessee Open Meetings Act, the Tennessee Open Records Act, civil rights litigation, and various other issues relating to the representation of Tennessee municipalities and governmental entities generally.
In 2020, Goodson’s peers elected him as the president of the Tennessee Municipal Attorneys Association (“TMAA”), a position he occupied from July of 2020 until May of 2021. He had served previously as the TMAA’s vice president and its treasurer. Goodson is a published legal author, has been a featured speaker at many seminars, and helped make new law in Tennessee before the Tennessee Supreme Court in the case of Moreno v. City of Clarksville, 479 S.W.3d 795 (Tenn. 2015), a matter of first impression in the state, which further defined the boundaries of sovereign immunity.
Goodson brings diverse professional experience and a multifaceted skill set to Batson Nolan, where he will continue to focus on civil litigation and the representation of governmental entities.