Judge Lynda Jones was elected to the bench on Aug. 7, 2014, and serves as the Division 9 General Sessions Court judge in Nashville-Davidson County.
The General Sessions Court docket hears dozens of defendants at one time and the 11 judges have to be able to make quick decisions on issues ranging from civil cases to misdemeanors, felonies, traffic, environmental and Metro Nashville ordinance violations.
Jones is in her second eight-year term and has received accolades along the way from the Nashville Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) as their Advocate of the Year and the Nashville Business Journal’s Best of the Bar as well as a nominee of their prestigious Women of Influence Award — among other recognitions.
She’s known for her active community engagement serving on several nonprofit boards over the years including for Dismas House and volunteering as a Girl Scout Troop leader.
Prior to being elected as General Sessions Court Judge, you were in private practice for 22 years. What kind of law did you practice?
I started out working for a bankruptcy law firm (the Offices of James A. Flexer), representing people who fell on hard times through major medical disasters, divorce or a lost job. Some of those clients became disabled which created a new reality in their world.
I left that law firm after a few years and hung out a shingle on my own, doing a little of everything with a majority of the work still being bankruptcy. My family was lower-middle income and from a rural area, which is why I think I was always drawn to representing the voiceless, the “David” who had to face a Goliath (banks or insurance companies).
Additionally, my father had a frightening temper when I was a child. He grew out of that temper eventually, but it left an impression on me. I usually represented women in the handful of divorce cases I took early in my practice. I represented plaintiffs injured in car wrecks as well. Insurance companies have teams of lawyers to preserve their wealth. I wanted to help individuals who could not go up on their own against a big company.
You were elected to the General Sessions Court, Division 9 in 2014. What made you want to become a judge?
I had a friend, Gloria Dumas, who was a judge at the time, and I was also inspired by Judges Barbara Haynes and Carol McCoy. Seeing their community impact made me think about becoming a judge.
For more than 20 years, I did a great deal of volunteer work with several area nonprofits. Through my volunteer work, I saw how few people knew what resources were available to them. I saw single mothers who didn’t know they could get food from Second Harvest or assistance with day care expenses. Nashville is rich in resources and philanthropy. I felt fortunate to be able to go to college, and so it was important to me to use my education to share my knowledge and lift others out of the despair of poverty and temporary setbacks in life. My parents demonstrated grit and resilience, and my mother was very strict. I took that grit to law school and used it in building my law practice.
Then I was lucky to share office space with some wonderful friends at Bruce Weathers Corley Dughman & Lyle for 11 years. They taught me well. Eventually, in 2006, I decided to take all that and run for General Sessions Court. But I lost. People immediately encouraged me to run again. But first, I created an all-female working mom law firm in late 2006 and bought the location where I practiced until 2014, which is when I ran again and was elected.
Nashville has been growing tremendously during that time. What are some of the changes you have seen in the past 11 years on the bench?
I’ve seen the trend towards more problem-solving courts. Some people need a little guidance and encouragement with treatment, mental health treatment or housing. They can be successful and not rearrested with education.
Many judges grow more compassionate on the bench because they see their courtrooms full of wounded people with tragic backgrounds. Most people do not want to go through the arrest process. They lack resources, grit, support and stability. We want to give them another chance to turn their lives around.
In 2019, you founded the Shelter Court in Nashville. What is the Shelter Court and how does it work?
A homeless court was operated in New Orleans under the guidance of Judge Jay Zainey. Associates at Baker Donelson had volunteered in that program. I was invited by Baker Donelson to be a partner in their pro bono work in the community. They operated a legal clinic at Room In The Inn for decades, and I had volunteered in their program as a lawyer in the past.
Homelessness has been close to my heart for years. My husband, Matt, temporarily experienced homelessness when his mother kicked him out of the house at age 17. He had clashed with his stepfather. My husband eventually reconciled with his mother a few years later. He shared many stories with me about those years. Building this court felt like a calling to me. It felt like a way to acknowledge and honor him after his death.
Baker Donelson did not want to see a traditional recovery court built because Nashville already had two successful recovery court models. Approximately 40 percent of unhoused people suffer from mental health issues, are socially isolated and have no family support. They may not be eligible for Nashville’s Mental Health court for numerous reasons. The city and state also had no budget for it.
So, prior to the COVID pandemic, we formed a working group with stakeholders like the Sheriff’s Office, the Criminal Court Clerk’s Office, The Contributor, Room In The Inn, the Salvation Army, the Public Defender’s Office, the District Attorney, the Homeless Impact Division and Nashville Rescue Mission to facilitate ideas. The group met for 18 months before launching the pilot program. I invited other judges to share in the monthly caseload. We met at Room In The Inn. The court used RITI social workers for interview intake. The Public Defender and DA agreed upon which minor offenses could be expunged if the defendants simply showed up for an interview to learn what services could help them get back on their feet.
Many defendants had lost their driver’s licenses, birth certificates and medical records due to evictions or a catastrophic event in their life. No driver’s license means no job. The pandemic started raging after a year or so, and Downtown businesses were having problems with aggressive panhandlers — who are vastly different than the average unhoused person.
With the pandemic raging, the court had few defendants referred until downtown transportation congestion of party buses was regulated and lights installed on dark corners. The new mayor and the Strobel House entered the scene, which is where we have been holding court on a bi-weekly basis since the start of 2025.
I had a serendipitous meeting at a Hispanic chamber breakfast with the head of the University of Tennessee (UT) College of Social Work Master’s program and the Shelter Court applied for two student practicum positions. The students receive school credit towards graduation and gain valuable knowledge under the volunteer supervision of a master’s level social worker. It’s a win-win situation. The Office of Homeless Services (OHS) and Park Center provide laptops and social workers to conduct intake. OHS looks for housing. Park Center assists those who are mentally ill. The two UT graduate students assist with any other needed service referrals.
This court does not cost taxpayers anything. It saves money because offenders are nonviolent. Why house people in a jail cell if their offense is simply that they have no place to sleep? Each story is individual to the person coming to Shelter Court. No two people lost their housing for the same reason.
In light of these stark federal policy changes that tend to increasingly criminalize homelessness, where should the focus of Nashville leaders be to continue to address the needs of the unhoused population?
Temporary housing may work. More recovery beds may work. Our country definitely needs to put more resources into assisting the mentally ill and provide them with access to housing and the services they need. Mild depression can devolve into isolation and isolation is very damaging.
Unhoused people literally feel invisible. See them. Speak to them. God calls us to love all our neighbors.