Thomas M. Hale

Thomas M. Hale is an experienced, skilled and effective trial and transactional lawyer who brings a wealth of knowledge to his clients in his practice areas of:

• Corporate and Transactional
• Employment and Labor
• Estate Planning, Administration and Trusts
• Local Government and Public Utilities
• Real Estate
• Professional Liability
• Litigation
• Commercial
• Corporate
• Municipal
• Land Use/Zoning

He is a solution seeker and problem solver and works hard as an advocate for his clients in an honest, straight-forward and professional manner. He exercises sound and prudent judgment in advising them of their legal alternatives, and his ability to clearly explain how the facts and the law are likely to converge, and what the most likely outcome would be, is of great benefit to his clients.

Mr. Hale tries all types of civil cases in both the federal and state courts throughout East Tennessee with specific emphasis in the areas of business-related disputes in contract, corporate, employment, as well as real estate and zoning/land use. He provides general commercial advice to local and national businesses.

His broad practice includes:

• Professional liability (legal malpractice and other professional errors and omissions defense)
• Contract preparation and review
• Advice on entity issues (i.e., corporate, partnership, LLC)
• Real property matters
• Uniform Commercial Code issues
• Purchases and sales of business entities
• Purchases, sales and leases of commercial real property
• Advice on obtaining and making loans
• Advice in the formation and governance of legal entities

For his corporate law practice, the prestigious, peer-review publication, Best Lawyers in America selected Mr. Hale for inclusion to its list each and every year since 2008, and also selected him as the "Knoxville Lawyer of the Year" in 2012. He has also been included in this publication each year since 2011 for his litigation-commercial, land use and zoning, municipal and real estate law practices.

• Ancillary Business: Town Attorney for the Town of Farragut, 1997-present

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• Corporate and Transactional
• Employment and Labor
• Estate Planning, Administration and Trusts
• Local Government and Public Utilities
• Real Estate
• Professional Liability
• Litigation
• Commercial litigation
• Corporate litigation
• Municipal Litigation
• Land Use/Zoning Litigation

• Tennessee, 1980
• U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit, 1981
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Tennessee, 1980

• University of Tennessee College of Law, Knoxville, Tennessee
  • J.D.
• University of Tennessee
  • M.B.A.
• University of Tennessee
  • B.A.
  • Honors: Member of the Advisory Council for the Department of Economics, University of Tennessee

• City of Harriman v. City of Kingston, et al., 2011 Tenn. LEXIS 576
• Roberts v. Bailey, No. E2010-00899-COA-R3-CV, 2010 Tenn. App. LEXIS 696 (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 9, 2010) Appeal denied, No. E2010-00899-SC-R11-CV, 2011 Tenn. LEXIS 214 (Tenn. Mar. 9, 2011)
• New Covenant Baptist Church v. Panther Sark, No. E2002-02693-COA-R3-CV, 2003 Tenn App. LEXIS 472 (Tenn. Ct. App. July 8, 2003)
• DeFord v. Secretary of Labor and Tennessee Valley Authority, 700 F.2d 281 (6th Cir. 1983)
• Jones v. Kayser-Roth Hosiery, Inc., 748 F. Supp. 1292 (E.D. Tenn. 1990)
• Birge v. Boeing, C/A No. 03A01-9609-CH-00295, 1997 Tenn. App. LEXIS 107 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb 19, 1997)

• Listed in Best Lawyers in America
• City View Top Attorney for Corporate Law
• Knoxville Bar Association's Governor's Award, 2012
• Named Best Lawyers Lawyer of the Year in Real Estate Litigation, 2018

• Knoxville Bar Association
• Knoxville Bar Association, Former President, 1997
• President-Elect of the Knoxville Bar Association, 1996
• Secretary of the Knoxville Bar Association, 1994-1995
• Tennessee Bar Association
• Legal Aid of East Tennessee, President, 2011 to 2012
• American Bar Association
• Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Board Member 2007-Present
• Town Attorney for the Town of Farragut, 1997-Present

• Vice Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee
• Board member of the Knoxville Bar Foundation, 2003-2015
• President of the Knoxville Bar Foundation, 2009-Present
• Tennessee Bar Foundation, Fellow
• Knoxville Bar Foundation, Fellow
• American Bar Foundation, Fellow
• Chairman of the Board of Directors, Knoxville Bar Foundation

• Kramer Rayson LLP, Managing Partner, 2001 to 2003