Lewis Jenkins

W. Lewis Jenkins Jr.

Contact Me:

(731) 259-6100

Email Me

Practice Areas

  • Business and Property Disputes
  • Estate Planning
  • Probate and Will Contests
  • Elder Law
  • Business Formation and Contract Drafting
  • Trusts and Trust Administration
  • Personal Injury
  • Tort and Civil Rights Claims
  • Employment-Related Counseling and Litigation
  • Family Law (adoptions, antenuptial agreements, and complex divorces)
  • Bankruptcy Law
  • Criminal Law

Biography

Lewis Jenkins possesses a wide and deep range of experience and expertise: he is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and certified Estate Planning Law Specialist by the National Association of Estate Planning Councils. Lewis has tried over eighty cases, including complicated business and property disputes, employment-related cases, tort claims, domestic relations matters, and criminal cases, to both juries and judges. He maintains an active transactional and tax practice, with an emphasis on estate planning, trust drafting, and business formation and planning. Lewis has an extensive dispositive motion and appellate practice, having personally written over one hundred dispositive motions and responses and appellate briefs, on subjects including breach of contract, employment discrimination, tax disputes, civil rights and constitutional law (including Second Amendment rights), probate (will contests and spousal elections), bank liability, wrongful death claims, health care liability, domestic relations, criminal law, and other areas of law. Lewis has obtained judgments of over one million dollars by summary judgment motion and by jury verdict. Lewis’s breadth of experience means that he brings discernment and broad perspective to the representation of every client, and in every matter, large or small, whether the situation involves litigation, counseling, or a transaction.


Lewis attended Vanderbilt University (1984-1988) on a scholarship from the United States Marine Corps, and received his undergraduate degree there, with Honors in History, in 1988. He received the Marine Corps League Award as the Marine Corps honor graduate from Vanderbilt University NROTC in 1988, and served four years on active duty with the Marines (1988-1992).


After leaving active duty with the Marines, Lewis attended Vanderbilt Law School and received a J.D. degree in 1995, and he also graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law with an LL.M. in Taxation (magna cum laude) in 2012. Lewis received three further postgraduate awards from the University of London: Postgraduate Certificate in Maritime Law (2017); Postgraduate Diploma in Economic Regulation Law (2018); and, LL.M. in Legal Philosophy and History (2018). He completed all his post-J.D. educational endeavors while engaged in practice full-time, trying cases and completing transactions for his clients and pursuing further education in the evenings and on weekends.


Lewis is a Master at the Bench of the Howell Edmunds Jackson American Inn of Court, and served as a Hearing Panel Member for the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility (District VIII), from 2012 to 2018. He volunteers with the Tennessee Bar Association Appellate Pro Bono Project and received the West Tennessee Legal Services Pro Bono Award in May 2013. Lewis is a Fellow of the American and Tennessee Foundations. He is a 2008 graduate of the Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law program. Lewis served on the Tennessee Judicial Nominating Commission from 2009 to 2013, and in that capacity participated statewide in the selection of trial and appellate court judges for Tennessee courts. Lewis has served for over fifteen years as a volunteer member of the Dyer County Governmental Library Commission and over twenty years as a member of the Tennessee Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility.

Lewis speaks often at continuing legal education seminars on the topics of trial practice, professional responsibility, and the rule of law. He conducts independent research; his primary research area presently is the history and significance of the Nuremberg trials (major war criminals trials and subsequent trials) as related to the rule of law, the selection of judicial officers, and the peaceful resolution of international disputes; Lewis has made presentations on the research to several bar associations and legal groups on his research.


Lewis is a member of diverse professional organizations, including the Tennessee Bar Association, the Missouri Bar, the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, the Federalist Society, the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy, the American Society for Legal History, and the American Bar Association.

Lewis serves his community on the Board of Directors of the New Life Union Mission and from 2015-2018 held the office of President of that non-profit board. Lewis is a Member and Sunday School teacher at First United Methodist Church of Dyersburg, Tennessee and has served on various church committees over the years. Lewis also volunteers in the Vanderbilt University School of Law Alumni Admission Interview Program.


Outside work, Lewis enjoys fishing, hiking, and camping with his family, and is a life member of both Trout Unlimited and the National Rifle Association. Lewis is an Eagle Scout (1983) and a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars. Lewis and his family operate a small farm in rural Dyer County, raising cattle and other animals.

Bar and Court Admissions

State Bar Admissions (by examination): Tennessee (1995); Missouri (1996)

Court Admissions (by application):

  • U.S. Supreme Court (2003)
  • U.S. Courts of Appeal: Sixth Circuit (1996); Eighth Circuit (2004)
  • U.S. District Courts: Western District of Tennessee (1995); Eastern District of Missouri (1997); Eastern District of Tennessee (2001); Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas (2003); Middle District of Tennessee (2014); Eastern District of Texas (2018); Central District of Illinois (2021)

Certified Legal Specialties

  • Estate Planning Law Specialist
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