Marian Dockery & Associates LLC | D. Billye Sanders (Of Counsel)

D. Billye Sanders (Of Counsel)

D.Billye Sanders, Esq.

615-500-7749

(615) 320-1118 (FAX)

D. Billye Sanders is Of Counsel with Dockery & Associates. In addition, she is a commercial and employment law arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. Formerly a partner with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP, Billye has over 35 years of experience practicing law. Her clients have ranged from Fortune 500 companies and municipalities to start-up companies. Her primary practice areas are administrative law, public utilities, land use and state and local government relations. She has represented clients in complex utility rate cases, cases of first impression under new statutes, licensing and rule-making proceedings and a variety of regulatory matters. She also has experience with mergers and acquisitions, financial institutions and general corporate transactional work.

Prior to joining the Waller law firm, Billye served as Deputy General Counsel for the Tennessee Public Service Commission. During her tenure at the Commission, she represented the public interest in litigation involving public utilities, managed the Legal Division, and handled a variety of labor and employment matters. Before joining the Commission, Billye served as Legal Counsel for United Southern Bank in Nashville.

Billye has been recognized by her peers in the Nashville Business Journal as one of the “Best of the Bar” and was recognized by Business Tennessee as one of the “Best 101 Lawyers in the State of Tennessee.” She has an AV® Preeminent peer review rating from Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating for ethical standards and legal ability. She has also been honored as a member of the YWCA Academy for Women of Achievement, a recipient of the J. C. Napier Trailblazer Award from the Napier-Looby Bar Foundation, recipient of the Fisk University Distinguished Alumni Award for Service to the University, a member of the Central High School (Louisville, KY) Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, recipient of the Cable Spirit of Leadership Award and the Molly Todd Cup, which is awarded to outstanding women who spend much of their lives making the world, and particularly Nashville, a better place to live.

Industry Experience

Litigating utility matters (telecommunications, natural gas, electricity, water and sewer) before the Tennessee Regulatory Authority and its predecessor the Tennessee Public Service Commission
Government relations and licensing on state and local level for public utilities and other businesses, local land use permits for large retailers and developers
Mergers and acquisitions and corporate transactions for financial institutions, healthcare companies and other industries

Education

B.A. English and Political Science, magna cum laude, Fisk University
- Phi Beta Kappa
J. D. Vanderbilt University Law School, 1977

Professional Activities

Licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee
Member, Nashville and Tennessee Bar Associations
Life Member and former board member, Napier Looby Bar Association
Member and former board member, Lawyers Association for Women
Member and former board member, Nashville Bar Foundation
Member Napier-Looby Bar Foundation
Emeritus member, Harry Phillips American Inn of Court
Former board member, Energy Bar Association
Former member National and American Bar Associations

Civic and Other Activities

First Tennessee Bank Advisory Board of Nashville
Commissioner, Metropolitan Davidson County Civil Service Commission
Commissioner, Tennessee Access to Justice Commission (appointed by TN Supreme Court)
Founding member, former officer, current teacher of teen Bible class, Metropolitan Interdenominational Church
Member and former President of CABLE (a professional women’s networking organization)
Board of PearlPoint Cancer Support (formerly The Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation)
Board member, Leadership Nashville Alumni Association
Vice President, Nashville Chapter of The Links, Incorporated
Advisory Board Drexel Academy Charter School
Former member Board of Trustees Fisk University
Former Chair and former General Counsel of Board of General Alumni Association of Fisk University
Former member, Board of Advisors Vanderbilt University School of Law
Former member, Board of the Baptist Healing Trust
Former member, The Metropolitan Davidson County Library Board
Former member, the Boards of United Way of Middle Tennessee, Inroads Nashville, the Nashville YWCA, Nashville Public Radio (WPLN), Nashville Thermal Transfer Corporation, and Grace Eaton Day Home (former President)
Former member and current Life Associate Member, Jack & Jill of America, Inc.
Member, Delta Sigma Theta Public Service Sorority