Desmond Ellery
Attorney and founder, Ellery Law
A former bookkeeper for family businesses, now their lawyer.
Desmond grew up above his parents' dry-cleaning shop off Jefferson Street and spent his twenties keeping the books for restaurants, contractors and corner stores around Nashville. He went to law school after watching too many of those owners sign things nobody had explained to them.
He practiced at a downtown firm before opening his own office on Third Avenue. His clients are mostly owner-run companies with fewer than fifty people: the kind of business where the person who signs the contract also unlocks the door in the morning. Outside the office he coaches youth baseball and serves on the board of a neighborhood credit union.
Admissions and education
Bar admissions
Tennessee
2006
Courts
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
2007
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
2011
Education
J.D., University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
2006
B.B.A., Accounting, Belmont University
1997
Languages
English
Memberships
Nashville Bar Association
Tennessee Bar Association, Business Law Section
Why a solo office
A small business shouldn't have to explain itself twice. When you call this office you reach the lawyer who drafted your operating agreement, read your lease and will be at your closing.
That also means a limit on how much work I take on. If I can't give a matter the attention it needs, I'll tell you, and give you the names of lawyers I'd trust with it.
Let's talk about your business
Thirty minutes, by phone or at the office on Third Avenue.