Skip to Content

Adams and Reese’s Nashville attorneys, Gif Thornton, Edward Playfair, and Brad Lampley have been featured on Nashville Post’s 2022 In Charge list, which features businesspeople and community leaders writing Music City's success story and shaping Middle Tennessee's growth. The publication says honorees on this year's list "embody what it means to be in charge and it will be up to them to make sure the city and state continue their collective forward trajectory.”

Thornton has served as Adams and Reese’s Managing Partner since 2015. He is highly regarded for his innovative style and strategy execution in leading this Am Law 200 firm. Thornton has led the firm through the COVID-19 pandemic and a 70th anniversary in 2021. Thornton was known previously for his influential government relations practice at the state and local levels. He has served as legislative counsel to a number of businesses, trade associations and governmental entities with interests before the Tennessee state government.

Outside the firm, Thornton serves as Chair of both the Tennessee Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments and the Tennessee Business Leadership Council. He has been named Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year in both Government Relations and Insurance Law, and he has been named to Nashville Business Journal’s Best of the Bar for 11 consecutive years. This will mark Thornton’s 12th consecutive year in Nashville Post’s In Charge.

Playfair, appointed Partner in Charge of the Nashville office in 2021, also leads the firm’s Global Intellectual Property Team. In this role, Playfair serves clients’ intellectual property needs across the nation and around the world and counsels on transactional, enforcement, and monetization matters. Playfair brings an international perspective to global intellectual property matters, as he was born in Australia and raised in the United Kingdom, where he previously practiced law. He is also admitted as a non-practicing solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. He joined Adams and Reese in 2009 and has extensive experience in United States and international trademarks, brand protection, franchising and distribution.

Playfair draws on years of experience as both an IP attorney and in his previous career as a business consultant, having worked with The Coca-Cola Company on sponsorship and brand promotion initiatives at the XIX Olympic Winter Games, Salt Lake City 2002, and at The Masters golf tournament. He also worked as an appraiser and then-youngest auctioneer at Sotheby’s, specializing in the fields of sports antiques and military medals.

Lampley currently serves as the firm's Practice Group Leader of the Intersection of Business and Government practice group. Before serving in that role, he was Partner in Charge of the Nashville office for the better part of 12 years and also led the firm’s Government Relations team. Lampley has a multifaceted practice, serving as legislative counsel to businesses and trade associations with interests before the Tennessee General Assembly and Tennessee state government, and has particular experience in transportation, energy, health care and insurance, among other fields. His practice also focuses on business litigation and commercial dispute resolution, with experience in banking and construction litigation, sports law and real estate. In addition to practicing law, Lampley is a host of Tennessee Bar Association’s Legislative Updates, a weekly news podcast dedicated to members of the Bar Association that is now on its third season. He was awarded the TBA’s President’s Award for his service to the legal profession.

Notably, Lampley was an offensive tackle for the University of Tennessee Volunteers football team, is a former member of the UT Board of Trustees, and currently serves on the Board of Visitors for the UT College of Communications and Information. He served on the Board of Directors of the Music City Bowl for 20 years and has served as Chairman or Co-Chairman of the Bowl for five separate games. He also serves on the board of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Additionally, he serves on the board of Delta Dental of Tennessee and chairs the board of the Smile 180 Foundation, which is the charitable foundation for Delta Dental.