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I feel privileged that my legal career allows me to make a difference, not only to my clients, but to my community and my state. It’s been gratifying to step into leadership roles that give me the chance to help groups and causes about which I feel very passionate.

Principally representing privately held businesses and their owners, Martin Brown counsels clients in complex business transactions. He handles matters such as the licensing of intellectual property, international commerce, mergers and acquisitions, and estate planning matters, including private foundation administration.

Martin also advises organizations on the private placement of securities, including stock option plans for employees. He sat on the Board of Directors of Brown-Forman Corporation, an NYSE-listed company, for 10 years, and he draws on this experience to serve clients. Within the firm, Martin served on the firm’s recruiting committee and was the Nashville office’s HUGS and CARE coordinator.

Martin has cultivated a wide network of strong relationships with people across Tennessee’s rich and deep cultural and civic landscape, serving as a trustee of Montgomery Bell Academy and Cheekwood Estate and Gardens and as a director of Nashville Public Radio and the Land Trust for Tennessee. Previously, Martin was a trustee of the Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee chapter, and a director of Nashville Public Television. He is a former director of Cumberland Region Tomorrow, a regional planning organization, and of Centerstone Mental Health Center. He also has been a member of the Economic Club of Nashville and the Nashville Capital Network for years.

Early in his career, Martin received valuable experience during a federal judicial clerkship for  Hon. Boyce F. Martin, Jr., US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Martin has been listed in Best Lawyers® in Corporate Law and in "Best of the Bar,” as published by the Nashville Business Journal.

I have enjoyed making a career of helping business clients prosper and grow.

Education

  • Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D., 1992
  • Yale University, B.A., 1986

Bar Admissions

  • Tennessee

Acknowledgements

  • AV® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • Best Lawyers® - Corporate Law, Litigation - Securities, Mergers and Acquisitions Law 
  • Best of the Bar - Nashville Business Journal
  • Forty Under Forty - Business Nashville Magazine

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

  • Nashville Bar Association
  • Tennessee Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Brown-Forman Corporation, Board of Directors
  • Economic Club of Nashville, Current Member and Former Director 
  • Nashville Capital Network
  • Montgomery Bell Academy, Board of Trustees
  • Yale Club of Middle Tennessee, Former President