Alumni Spotlight: Featuring

Madeline Leonard Phifer

By: Sabrina Huston | November 15, 2024

Spotlight Feature: Madeline Leonard Phifer

Graduation Year: 2020

Tennessee Law Review Position: Executive Editor

Madeline Leonard Phifer has had an impressive professional journey since her time on staff with the Tennessee Law Review (“TLR”). Madeline is an Associate Commercial Litigation Attorney in Chattanooga, TN. She practices at Husch Blackwell LLP, a law firm with a commercial litigation practice receiving a National Tier 1 ranking.

Madeline’s practice centers on consumer finance litigation and fiduciary litigation. This balance allows her to represent individuals in the trust and estate realm and represent companies and financial institutions with respect to consumer finance. Both areas of her practice allow Madeline to develop an expertise in niche areas of the law, litigate complex issues, and find common sense solutions for her clients. The highlight of Madeline’s career thus far has been her membership on a team that prevailed at the Tennessee Court of Appeals on a matter of first impression regarding the Tennessee Trust Code. Madeline explained,“[i]n Brock v. Brock, 661 S.W.3d 133 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2022), the Court of Appeals agreed with our client’s position by holding that Section 813(e) of the Tennessee Trust Code permits settlors to create a silent trust without explicitly overriding certain statutory reporting requirements. The Brock decision establishes the legal precedent that silent trusts are created by ‘providing otherwise’ with respect to a trustee’s reporting requirements, which affords settlors the freedom to draft their testamentary documents using the words they choose.”

As a second-year associate, Madeline drafted the appellee’s brief and sat second chair for oral argument at the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

Madeline explained her experience on TLR was exceptionally helpful for her legal career. Specifically, she stated that being on TLR taught her to “notice details and consult [her] resources.” As an associate, she noted, “[i]t’s my job to make a partner’s life easier. Partners can trust that when I send them work product, I have proofread, consulted the local rules, and double-checked applicable law to ensure that everything is compliant and up to date and that the case law cited supports our arguments.”

As a student, Madeline also added a published work to her resume. She was published in Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law, with a student note entitled Close the Courtroom Doors, Open the Ballot Box: How Mandatory Arbitration Agreements Affect Financial Advising Agreements.[1]

Madeline is passionate about relationships and emphasizes the importance of making connections in the legal field. She has found success in her practice by seeking mentorship opportunities and setting reminders to connect with people in her network. Madeline received this advice from Professor Brooklyn Sawyers Belk from her trial practice class in law school and stated, “I wish I’d listened to it sooner.” “Good mentors will not think you are weird for asking for advice and will let you know when they can give you time. It may seem formulaic to set a reminder to ‘touch base with X,’ but life gets busy, and it’s too easy to lose touch otherwise.”

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[1] See generally Madeline L. Phifer, Note, Close the Courtroom Doors, Open the Ballot Box: How Mandatory Arbitration Agreements Affect Financial Advising Agreements, 21 Tenn. J. Bus. L. 235 (2020).