John J. Thomason

John Thomason was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1929 and moved with his family to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1939. He attended the Memphis public schools, Rhodes College and graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1952. At UT he was Senior Class President, president of his fraternity (SAE), one of eleven Torchbearers, Scarabbean, ODK, etc. Upon graduation he was commissioned first lieutenant in the Army of the United States, Judge Advocate General's Corps, and served as assistant staff judge advocate, VII U.S. Army Corps in Germany, from 1953 to 1955. Following military service, Thomason was a public defender in the criminal courts of Memphis, Tennessee, then a trial lawyer, frequently defending physicians accused of medical malpractice and representing corporations in commercial litigation. In 1967 he founded a law firm, and in 2002, after fifty years at the bar, retired from the practice of law. By then his firm had grown to thirty-five lawyers.

Selected for membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers, International Association of Defense Counsel, and Best Lawyers in America, Thomason tried hundreds of jury trials in state and federal jurisdictions and, for a time was visiting professor of Advocacy at the University of Tennessee, College of Law in Knoxville. In 1978-79 he served as chairman of the 17,000 member General Practice Section of the American Bar Association. Among notable cases in which he was involved are his defense of Exxon in a suit brought by Kellogg over the use of the trademark cartoon tiger, his defense of charges against Elvis Presley's physician following the entertainer's death and applications to the United States Supreme Court concerning standards of legal malpractice and whether the right of publicity is inheritable.

In addition to his law practice, Thomason has enjoyed extensive sailing, alpine hiking, tennis and woodworking. He lives with Sally, his wife of 56 years, in Memphis, Tennessee. Two of the three Thomason children are lawyers.

John Thomason is author of "Lieutenant, Your Cap's on Backward," a warm story of the Cold War, "Bluff City Barristers," a coffee-table book containing historical sketches of the Memphis legal community, and "Inadmissible Evidence," a law based novel, inspired by an actual trial. His web page is www.armyjag.com.