Joseph A. Woodruff

Joseph Woodruff is a partner in Waller Lansden’s Trial and Appellate practice where he serves as the head of the firm’s financial services litigation group. He has more than 30 years of trial and appellate experience in business and tort litigation. His principal clients include financial institutions and fiduciaries, healthcare companies, manufacturers and suppliers, real estate developers, and individuals engaged in business transactions in a wide variety of industries. Mr. Woodruff has represented clients with national operations in state and federal courts throughout the United States and also has extensive experience in mediation, arbitration and other alternative forms of dispute resolution. He is listed by the Tennessee Supreme Court as a Rule 31 general civil mediator and is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (Woodward White, Inc.) for his work in commercial litigation.

Mr. Woodruff  lead a team of Waller Lansden attorneys that successfully represented the State of Tennessee in its efforts to return the $100 million Maddox Foundation to Tennessee after its controversial move to Mississippi. The Maddox Foundation dispute involved litigation in trial and appellate courts in three states, and garnered extensive media attention, including coverage in the New York Times. In April 2005, Mr. Woodruff provided testimony about the Maddox Foundation case, to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee with respect to legislation aimed at curbing abuses in the management of tax-exempt organizations. His article about the Maddox Foundation litigation, “One Foundation's Legal Battle: A Cautionary Tale for All Nonprofits” was published in the September 2008 edition of Nonprofit World magazine.

Starting in 2003, up to a dozen class action lawsuits, brought under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, challenging  dealer-generated automobile loans were filed in federal court in Nashville, Tenn. against a variety of lenders in these “indirect” loan transaction. Only two of the suits were decided by the Court in favor of the lender   Mr. Woodruff and  the team from Waller Lansden represented the bank defendant in both of those successful cases. His editorial “Rulings on Auto Loan Markups Contradictory” was published in the June 10, 2005 issue of American Banker.

Other representative published cases in which Mr. Woodruff served as lead counsel include:

A native of Alabama, Mr. Woodruff earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama and his juris doctorate from the University of Alabama School of Law. In addition to his legal writing, he is the author of Historic Photos of University of Alabama Football, published in June 2009 by Turner Publishing Company. He has also been a contributing newspaper columnist providing commentary on college football in the Southeastern Conference.

Immediately following his graduation from law school, Mr. Woodruff returned to active military service as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army. He served more than 30 years and retired at  the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.