BACKGROUND CHECK

Bart Pickett | Abby Sparks

For the last 13 years, Nashville Bar Journal readers have gotten to know NBA members through Bart Pickett’s column, “Background Check.” Over the years Bart has interviewed dozens of judges, NBA board members and committee chairs, and other NBA members. This month, Bart has graciously agreed to switch roles and sit in the spotlight; I hope you enjoy getting to know Bart as much I have!

Bart Pickett was born and raised in Huntingdon, a small town in Carroll County, located in West Tennessee. He has deep roots in Carroll County-–his family has been in the area for at least 5 generations. Bart’s parents were both teachers and always emphasized the importance of education to him and his older brother, Britt. This focus on education was evident as Bart excelled academically–he took every honors class available and participated in most extracurricular activities available.

After graduating high school, Bart attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee–a town even smaller than his hometown of Huntingdon. He loved attending Sewanee and talked about the beauty of the campus, set on 13,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau. Bart majored in political science and was active in student life; he was a member of the Pre-Law club, the Chi Psi fraternity, served as a residence hall proctor, led campus tours, and served as the president of the university’s College Democrats organization. He was selected as Homecoming King his senior year. Bart knew he wanted to go to law school–growing up in a small town, he saw the positive impact attorneys had in his local community. He applied to several law schools but wanted to remain in Tennessee and was excited when he was accepted to the UT College of Law. Bart “absolutely loved law school” and his time at UT. He made great friends while at UT who he is still close with today. Bart served on the Tennessee Law Review and led the animal law pro bono. He completed the Advocacy and Dispute Resolution concentration.

After graduating from UT College of Law in 2007, Bart knew he wanted to move to Nashville and started applying for judicial clerkships. He completed a 1-year clerkship with Judge Brothers, and then clerked for 2 years for Judge Binkley. Bart enjoyed his clerkship experiences, especially getting to know the judges and other court staff.

Bart then worked for Hall Booth Smith, P.C., handling mostly medical malpractice cases. In 2013, he moved in-house to Liberty Mutual and started working for Julie Peak, who he describes as a great mentor. Bart wanted to try jury cases and got lots of opportunities to do so while working for Liberty Mutual. He tried 22 jury cases across the state. Bart enjoyed trying jury cases and found it fun. He related, “people are only intimidated by trials because they haven’t done them much.” But with practice, he found he developed a comfort level with the process and was able to focus on the facts of each particular case.

While he enjoyed litigation, Bart recognized that it can be exhausting work and he also preferred not to be in adversarial situations. Several years ago, he took some time to evaluate his career and realized he wanted to make a change. He thought back to his time working in the courthouse, and his interactions with the court administrator. He realized that was the job he wanted and decided to seek it out when the position became available.

Four years later, Bart landed his dream job as the new Trial Court Administrator for Metro Nashville and Davidson County. He is now one month into his new role and says he is having fun working with a great staff and loves being back in the courthouse every day.

When he’s not working, Bart loves to travel–and while he says he is not a thrill-seeker, he has been on some pretty thrilling adventures. He ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain (where he says the crowds were more dangerous than the bulls!) and survived the world’s most dangerous hike, Mt. Huashan in China. Bart has traveled to 5 of the 7 Modern Wonders of the World so far – and he hopes to make it to all 7.

Bart lives in the Sylvan Park neighborhood with his boxer, Ruby. He is active in boxer rescue – over the last 10 years he has fostered more than 30 boxers! During COVID, he bought a 1911 house in Huntingdon, and also enjoys spending time working on the house. n

ABBY SPARKS is the Executive Director of the Nashville Bar Association, Mom in Chief of the Sparks family, and Rescue Dog Matchmaker (if you’re looking for a new fourlegged friend, she will happily help you find the perfect match!)