Adams & Reese Counsel Aubrey Harwell Selected Among Nashville’s “Heavy Hitters”

The Nashville Business Journal has selected Adams & Reese Counsel Aubrey Harwell among the 2025 Power 100: Heavy Hitters, a prestigious list of the most influential people in the city’s business scene. Honorees were selected by the business publication’s newsroom.

“Harwell is a venerated dean and titan of Nashville’s legal industry, working out-front (and much more often, behind the scenes) with Haslams, Ingrams, and innumerable business and political power players,” writes the Nashville Business Journal newsroom.

Harwell joins names such as entertainment legend Dolly Parton, Nashville Predators owner Bill Haslam, and Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, among additional longstanding members of the business elite. “They’re legacy players in Nashville business; their family names open doors, and they are still wielding significant influence across the city,” writes the NBJ.

2025 Power 100: Heavy Hitters Honorees

• Dolly Parton / Entertainment legend and philanthropist
• Lee Beaman / Beaman Automotive Group, Former owner
• Terry Turner / Pinnacle Financial Partners, President and CEO
• Janet Miller / Colliers Nashville, Vice chair
• Colin Reed / Ryman Hospitality Properties, Executive Chairman
• Steve Smith / Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk, Honky Tonk Central, Rippy’s Bar & Grill, The Diner, Co-owner
• Beth Seigenthaler Courtney / Finn Partners, Managing partner, Southeast
• John Ingram / Nashville SC, Chairman and majority owner
• Bill Frist / Frist Cressey Ventures, Partner
• Amy Adams Strunk / Tennessee Titans, Controlling Owner
• Mike Curb / Curb Records, Founder
• Doug Kreulen / Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, CEO
• Bill Haslam / Nashville Predators, Chairman and majority owner
• Martha Ingram / Philanthropist
• Tommy Frist III / HCA Healthcare Inc., Founder
• Aubrey Harwell / Adams & Reese, Counsel
• Jimmy Granbery / H.G. Hill Realty Co. LLC, CEO

Aubrey Harwell serves as the Adams & Reese White-Collar Criminal Defense Team Leader, and he has more than 50 years of experience as lead counsel in high-stakes, white-collar criminal defense and high-profile, crisis management cases that have garnered national media attention. He has represented top private corporate clients, and prominent public officials, including judges, governors, congressmen, state senators, mayors, and state attorneys general.

Before joining Adams & Reese, he co-founded Neal & Harwell, leading a firm that has become a staple in the Nashville community for more than 50 years.

Throughout his storied career, Harwell has received many accolades and recognitions, including “Senior Statesman in Litigation: General Commercial in Tennessee” by Chambers USA; “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Southeastern Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates; the “General Counsel Award” from Bridgestone; the first-ever “Best of the Bar Lifetime Achievement” award by the Nashville Business Journal; and recognition by clients and peers in Best Lawyers and Mid-South Super Lawyers.

Harwell is a Senior Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, The Trial Lawyer Honorary Society. He has been published in legal publications and is a frequent speaker at seminars and symposiums throughout the United States.

In the Nashville community, Harwell has served in various leadership positions for many legal and nonprofit organizations, including the Music City Bowl, Boy Scouts of America National Council, Middle Tennessee Council Boy Scouts of America, Easter Seals Society of Tennessee, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Vanderbilt University Children’s Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Meharry Medical College, Nashville School of Law, The Frist Center for the Visual Arts, and Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.