James D. Kay, Jr.  

Mr. Kay received the highest honors as a student at Auburn University and was selected Omicron Delta Kappa, Mortar Board and Spades Senior Honorary. He has vast experience in the courtroom as he has tried over 75 jury cases and hundreds of non-jury cases, and he has completed over 1500 arbitrations and mediations across the State of Tennessee as one of the State's top mediators.  The Nashville Business Journal, in 2004, ranked him as one of the best eight litigators in Nashville.  Mr. Kay is a general contractor and consults frequently with contractors and owners across the Southeast on various construction projects.  

Mr. Kay is also  involved in numerous community activities.   For his complete resume', click here.

jim.kay@kaygriffin.com

Practice Areas: Business, Construction, Entertainment, Employment, and  Personal Injury Litigation; Automotive Franchises and Dealerships; Mediation and Arbitration

John J. Griffin, Jr.

John Griffin was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1966. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1989, and his law degree from the University of Tennessee in 1992.

He has been admitted to practice law in Tennessee since 1993. Additionally, he has been admitted to practice law in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit since 1993.  In 2006, Mr. Griffin was Admitted and Qualified as an Attorney and Counsellor of the Supreme Court of the United States.  Mr. Griffin has extensive experience in the area of intellectual property litigation concentrating in the areas of copyright and trademarks. In particular, he recently successfully represented the estate of a well known artist and songwriter in a case of first impression regarding royalty rights before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

John Griffin has extensive trial experience and was ranked as one of Nashville's best eight litigators by the Nashville Business Journal 2004 "Best of the Bar." Mr. Griffin was also the recipient of the Nashville Bar Association's 2005 Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award.  He was named as one of Catholic Charities Volunteers of the Year in 2006.  Most recently, John Griffin was named a Fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation.  

John Griffin is a member of the Nashville, Tennessee, and American Bar Associations, the Copyright Society of the South, and Country Music Association. In addition, he is a Tennessee Rule 31 certified mediator.
john.griffin@kaygriffin.com

Practice Areas: Business Litigation; Intellectual Property Litigation; Personal Injury; Insurance Litigation

John B. Enkema

John B. Enkema is a 40 year old Nashville native who has practiced law in Nashville since 1994.  Mr. Enkema graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in 1985, received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Tennessee, cum laude, in 1989, and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee law school in 1994.  At the University of Tennessee law school, Mr. Enkema was selected to be a member of the law review and was named to the honor societies of the Order of the Coif and Phi Kappa Phi. 

After practicing law with a large Nashville law firm, Mr. Enkema joined Kay, Griffin, Enkema & Brothers in 1997.  Mr. Enkema's practice is limited to business litigation, with a focus on corporate, partnership, construction, real estate, automobile dealership and employment litigation.  Mr. Enkema represents clients such as a national cable company, a national finance company, numerous local construction companies, several local real estate development companies, a national manufacturer of building materials, several automobile dealerships and numerous individuals in partnership/stockholder disputes.  He has represented clients in numerous state and federal courts including cases though out Tennessee, and in the federal courts of Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana and New Jersey.  Mr. Enkema is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

W.W. Frank Wilbert

Frank Wilbert was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1977.  He received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Lipscomb University in 1999 and his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2003, graduating cum laude.  While at the UT College of Law, Mr. Wilbert served as the Managing Editor for the Tennessee Law Review and was named to the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society. 

Mr. Wilbert primarily practices in the area of trial and appellate civil litigation on behalf of individual and corporate clients, with a focus on intellectual property litigation and commercial litigation.  In addition, Mr. Wilbert frequently represents clients in the trucking industry, and his practice  experience  also includes real estate litigation and construction litigation.  Since joining the firm, Mr. Wilbert has conducted several trials and gained extensive trial experience in both federal and state courts.  

In 2008 and 2009, Frank Wilbert was named a "Rising Star" in the area of Intellectual Property Litigation by Mid-South Super Lawyers magazine.  In November of 2007, Mr. Wilbert was named a 2007 MDA Most Prominent Legal Leader.  

Recently, Mr. Wilbert was elected to the 2009 Board of Directors for the Nashville Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.  Mr. Wilbert is an associate member of the Harry Phillips American Inn of Court.  He is also a member of the Nashville, Tennessee, and American Bar Associations. Additionally, he participates in providing pro bono legal services to clients at the Woodbine Community Center.

frank.wilbert@kaygriffin.com

Practice Areas: Business Law; Entertainment Law; Insurance Litigation; Intellectual Property Litigation; Commercial Litigation; Construction Litigation; Personal Injury

Benjamin E. Goldammer

Mr. Goldammer was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in October of 2007.  

ben.goldammer@kaygriffin.com

Practice Areas: Litigation.

Scott C. Gardner  

Thomas W. Shumate IV 

Tom Shumate (Of Counsel) is a native Nashvillian.  He graduated from Father Ryan High School in 1991, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Communication Studies from Vanderbilt University, cum laude, in 1995, and graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 1998.  Mr. Shumate has practiced in Nashville since that time and is admitted to practice before all Tennessee state courts, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Mr. Shumate represents individuals and businesses in a variety of civil matters including employment and business litigation and disputes involving non-compete agreements and theft of trade secrets.  He maintains a blog on Tennessee Non-Compete Law and related business torts which can be accessed via the following link: http://tennesseenoncompetelaw.typepad.com 

Mr. Shumate is actively involved in the Nashville community and various Bar organizations.  He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee and the Father Ryan Alumni Board.  In order to better and more efficiently serve his clients, Mr. Shumate also serves on the Editorial Board of Law Practice Today, a publication of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association, and is the Chair of the Law Office Technology and Management Section of the Tennessee Bar Association.  He is also a member of the Nashville, Tennessee, and American Bar Associations.

To view a more detailed listing of Mr. Shumate’s resume, click here.

Practice Areas:  Appeals in state and federal court; Business Litigation (including business torts, including theft of trade secrets, and contract disputes); Collections; Labor and Employment Law (including employment contracts and non-compete disputes); Landlord/Tenant disputes (commercial and residential); Personal Injury; and Wrongful Death.

Click here to read Mr. Shumate's Special Feature article, Udom Undone: Tennessee Enacts New Law Regarding Physician Non-Compete Agreements in Tennessee Medicine, November 2007.

A.  Stuart Grimson

A. Stuart Grimson (Of Counsel) was born in Vancouver, BC, in 1965. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Manitoba in 2003 and his law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law in 2005.  Mr. Grimson is a Member of the Tennessee Bar Association.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Grimson played professional hockey for the following National Hockey League (NHL) teams: Calgary, Chicago, Anaheim, Detroit, Carolina, and Los Angeles.  Stu retired in 2003 while a member of the Nashville Predators.  Over the course of his 17 year career, Mr. Grimson served as an Executive Vice President to the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) and an NHLPA Executive Board Member.  From 2006 to 2007, he worked as In-House Counsel for the NHLPA in Toronto, Ontario. 

Mr. Grimson is a Member of the Board of Directors for Mobile Medicine Disaster Relief of Nashville, TN.  Since 1998, he has been a Member of the Board of Directors and a Player Advisory Board Member for Hockey Ministries International of Montreal, QC. 

Elizabeth A. Abaray