Judge Amy V. Hollars, of Livingston, was recently installed as the 40th Chair of the Tennessee Bar Foundation, at its annual membership meeting.  She was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 2017, as a Middle Tennessee Trustee.  She previously served as a member of the organization’s Grant Review Committee.

            The Foundation is a philanthropic organization with a two-fold purpose: to honor attorneys who have distinguished themselves in the profession by selecting them for membership (Judge Hollars follows her father, retired Judge John Turnbull, in that membership) and to administer a grant-making program, on behalf of the Tennessee Supreme Court, which supports law-related public projects. The program, known by the acronym “IOLTA” (Interest On Lawyers’ Trust Accounts) has awarded more than $23,000,000 over 33 years to Tennessee organizations that assist victims of domestic violence, that promote child advocacy or alternative dispute resolution or rehabilitation of offenders and to legal aid clinics for the indigent.  Twenty-one organizations will share in $500,000 in IOLTA grants during 2021. 

            Hollars is a native of Livingston and attended Overton County public schools.  She received an undergraduate degree, as Valedictorian of her class, from the University of the South.   She holds a master’s degree in English from Vanderbilt University.  In 1995, she received a law degree, with highest honors, from the University of Tennessee College of Law.

            Hollars practiced law in Knoxville for seven years and in Livingston for six years.  In 2008, she was appointed by Governor Phil Bredesen as the Circuit Judge for the Thirteenth Judicial District, which consists of Cumberland, Clay, Dekalb, Putnam, Overton, Pickett and White counties.  She has been reelected to that position twice, in 2010 and 2014, without opposition. 

            Hollars is a past President of the Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women, a former board member of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, and a former treasurer of the Tennessee Judicial Conference.  She currently serves as interim Vice-Chair for WCTE, the local PBS television station.  Hollars attends First Christian Church of Livingston, where she is an elder and sings in the choir. She is married and has three college age children.  Judge Hollars lives and maintains her judicial office in her hometown of Livingston.

            Hollars will Chair the Foundation until June 2022.