Linda Nettles Harris

Linda Nettles Harris is a Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 Civil Law and Family Law Mediator, an independent arbitrator, a FINRA trained arbitrator, a certified EEO Investigator, and a private practitioner with a practice focused on mediation, arbitration, and investigations. Linda is a facilitator for Bethel University’s Masters of Conflict Resolution Program and served as an adjunct instructor for ITT Tech’s Paralegal program. For many years, Linda worked for the U. S. Department of Justice, where she served as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in the Western District of Tennessee in both the civil and criminal divisions. Linda’s litigation background covers a broad range of both civil and criminal matters and she has litigated hundreds of different types of cases ranging from: medical malpractice cases, employment discrimination cases, and tort litigation; statutory and constitutional challenges to governmental programs; Administrative Procedure Act cases; and Bivens civil rights suit. As an AUSA assigned to the criminal division, Linda was responsible for investigating and prosecuting cases involving immigration fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, public corruption, federal program fraud, civil rights matters and drug trafficking crimes. Linda was personally responsible for all aspects of discovery, trials and appeals. As an AUSA, Linda served as an instructor/facilitator at the U. S. Department of Justice’s Leadership Institute, an instructor at the National Advocacy Center and was the employees’ Sexual Harassment Point of Contact (POC) for the Western District of Tennessee. Linda has extensive practice experience with the United States Circuit Courts of Appeal, having prepared and filed more than 100 briefs and engaged in more than 50 oral arguments in the 6th and 2nd United States Circuit Courts of Appeal on behalf of the United States and clients. Linda successfully tried more than 70 jury trials (both civil and criminal) to verdict in federal courts. She has also practiced in State of Tennessee Chancery, Circuit and General Sessions Courts. Prior to working for DOJ, Linda served as a federal judicial law clerk to U. S. District Court Judge Jerome (Jerry) Turner and a state court judicial law clerk to Chancellor George T. Lewis. Linda is also a former Memphis Police Officer, where she served as a uniform patrol officer; assistant coordinator of the Memphis Crime Stoppers Program; and as an investigator/sergeant, assigned to investigate sex crimes, child sexual abuse cases, burglaries and auto thefts. Linda is a member of the member of the Memphis Bar Association and the National Bar Association- Ben F. Jones Chapter. She was recently invited to serve on the Advisory Rules Committee for the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and is a Tennessee Supreme Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Commissioner. She is also a graduate of Leadership Memphis. Since becoming a mediator, she has mediated employment discrimination cases, divorces cases, personal injury cases, property dispute cases, and other civil litigation cases.