Government regulatory issues, including motor vehicle issues, vacation resort and insurance matters
Industry Experience
Automotive
Manufacturing
Package and delivery industry
Healthcare
Transportation
Retail
Vacation resort development
Investigative and security
Insurance
Wireless telecommunications
Waverly Crenshaw is a partner at Waller Lansden and serves on the firm's Board of Directors and Diversity Committee. With over 25 years of experience, he concentrates his practice in the areas of labor and employment and all employer/employee-related issues as well as government regulatory issues. Mr. Crenshaw provides day-to-day advice to management on all aspects of employment and labor law. His primary concentration lies in the areas of federal employment litigation, including complex, multi-plaintiff discrimination, harassment and retaliation cases. He is currently defending a hiring and promotion class action. In recently litigated matters, Mr. Crenshaw successfully defended a 92 plaintiff race discrimination action; a race-based class action challenging hiring practices; a multi-plaintiff racial harassment, discrimination and retaliation lawsuit through jury trial; successfully defended a diabetes protocol in response to a challenge under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); successfully defended against § 301 Labor Management Relations Act actions at trial and on appeal; and obtained defense judgment in cases filed under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
Mr. Crenshaw was the first African-American attorney and partner at Waller Lansden and has been a partner in a majority law firm longer than any other African-American attorney in Nashville. For his work in labor and employment law, he has been recognized in America's Leading Lawyers for Business (Chambers & Partners) since 2004 as well as the Nashville Business Journal’s “Best of the Bar,” “Best 101 Lawyers" by Business Tennessee, and Mid-South and Tennessee Super Lawyers. He received the 2011 Good Guy Award from the Nashville Women's Political Collaborative.
Education
J.D., Vanderbilt University, 1981
Staff Member and Editorial Board Member, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 1979-1981
B.A., Vanderbilt University, 1978
Clerkships and Previous Affiliations
Assistant Attorney General, State of Tennessee, 1984-1986
Law Clerk, United States District Judge John T. Nixon, 1982-1984
Law Clerk, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee Chancellors, 1981-1982
Professional Activities
Named one of the "Best 101 Lawyers" in Tennessee by Business Tennessee
Recognized and listed in the current edition, America's Leading Lawyers for Business (Chambers & Partners)
Recognized in the Nashville Business Journal's 2005 and 2008 "Best of the Bar"
Fellow, Nashville and Tennessee Bar Foundations
Life Member, Conference of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of the United States
Chair, Labor & Employment Section, Tennessee Bar Association, 2005
Former Chair, Merit Selection Panel, U.S. Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, 1998
Former Chair, Tennessee Supreme Court's Advisory Committee, Board of Professional Responsibility, 2003-2004
Member, Board of Trustees, Napier-Looby Bar Foundation
Former President, Napier-Looby Bar Association, Chapter of National Bar Association
Former Secretary, Treasurer and Director, Nashville Bar Association
Charter Member and Legal Counsel, Harry Phillips American Inn of Courts
Former Hearing Committee Member, Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee
Former Member, Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Group, United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
Frequent lecturer throughout the Middle Tennessee area on various employment law issues
Civic and Other Activities
Board Member, Tennessee Performing Arts Center
Member, Leadership Nashville 2009
Board Member, Boys and Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee, Inc.
Member, by mayoral appointment, to the Metropolitan Nashville Hospital Authority Board of Trustees; Elected Board Chair November 2008
Member, Governor's Advisory Committee on Equal and Fair Employment Opportunity
Former Board Member, You Have the Power, Inc.
Board Member, Nashville Bar Pro Bono Board
Former Board Member, Community Nashville, Inc.
Board Member and Executive Committee Member, Middle Tennessee Workforce Development Board
Member and Legal Counsel, 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee, Inc.
Board Member, National Museum of African-American Music
Legal Counsel, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, 1996
Professional Licenses
Tennessee
Court Admissions
United States Supreme Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits
United States District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas
United States District Courts for the District of Kansas
United States District Courts for the Northern District of Mississippi
United States District Courts for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee
United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Texas
