Chancellor Pamela Fleenor is serving as the president of the Tennessee Judicial Conference, an organization that represents state judges from Memphis to Mountain City.
Fleenor is the third woman to hold the position and the first judge from Chattanooga to be elected president in 30 years.
“It’s important that we restore and increase the public’s confidence and trust in the court system,” Fleenor says. “I want to focus on the integrity and impartiality of the system. We have good judges in our state courts who are making impartial decisions based on the admissible evidence and the applicable law.
“They don’t make these decisions with bias or on a whim. Judges write their decisions and the court speaks through its orders. The order explains why the court did what it did.”
Helping educate the public on the role of courts is just one goal of the TJC. There are over a dozen committees focused on issues ranging from developing model jury instructions to court security.
The main focus of the TJC is judicial education. However, fellowship among the judges is critical and something Fleenor hopes to emphasize.
“Because of the pandemic, social distancing and virtual conferences, as well as so many retirements and new judges coming on after the August 2022 election, it’s essential we come together,” she says. “Our relationships are priceless. Judges can’t talk about cases with anyone – not lawyers, not their families – because their work is confidential. But they can talk to other judges. It helps to know someone else is going through the same thing.”
In her courtroom, Fleenor manages a lot of guardianships and conservatorships, which often requires her to listen to the heartbreaking, intimate details of people’s lives and make weighty decisions on the next steps.
“Judges often take care of the most vulnerable people in our community. That takes a lot of compassion,” Fleenor says. “I hope people leave the courtroom in a better frame of mind than when they come in, especially in conservator cases. They’re under stress; this is not something they chose.
“I think most of the time they feel they had their day in court and justice was done. They feel their loved one was cared for and will be cared for. It’s very rewarding.”
Tennessee is one of three states with chancery courts. Chancery courts are state-level courts of record that tend to oversee civil disputes where the focus is not monetary, although the lines can blur between circuit civil court and chancery court in some counties.
The unique nature of chancery court drew Chancellor Fleenor to the bench. “Chancery court has such a broad jurisdiction and I see a lot of analytical questions. Chancery court is the best of both worlds; I’m able to help people and answer interesting questions of law.”
Fleenor was born and raised in Chattanooga, where she attended public schools. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she earned the Chapin-Thomas Scholarship to the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
After graduation, she made her way home to Chattanooga and was a trial practitioner before running for the open chancellor position in 2014.
An interest that followed her north during her three years of law school was a love for baseball. She grew up watching Hank Aaron hit homeruns for the Atlanta Braves and often made her way to Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati during law school to watch Pete Rose chase and break Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record.
Today, she’s a happy Atlanta Braves fan and can frequently be found with her husband, son, and daughter on a sports field.
“Right now, it is mostly family doubles in tennis, but we golf, too, and are always active,” she says.
Fleenor and her husband, who’s also an attorney, recently added a third attorney to the family when their daughter passed the Tennessee bar exam in the fall of 2021.
Fleenor will serve as TJC president until the summer of 2023.
Source: State of Tennessee Supreme Court