J. Graham Matherne

Partner

Practices and Industries

Litigation & Dispute Resolution Non-Competition, Business Information, and Trade Secret Protection Insurance Tort & Insurance Defense Product Liability

Graham Matherne is a member of the Firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Service Team. He concentrates his practice in the areas of business litigation, construction law disputes, non-compete/trade secret litigation, insurance regulation and receiverships and copyright and trademark litigation, in both federal and state courts.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Mr. Matherne has wide experience in addressing all matters arising from court-appointed receiverships over entities ranging from insurance companies to health and benefit plans, to state chartered trust companies, where he has worked extensively with the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions, the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, and the U.S. Department of Labor.

He has represented clients administratively in front of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance in such diverse matters as agent licensing, Form A/Form E filings, self-reporting obligations, and retaliatory tax disputes.

Mr. Matherne has represented owners, general contractors and subcontractors in many construction law disputes ranging from defending the owner’s interest in a multi-million dollar earth-moving (cut and fill) dispute, to addressing lien claims for owners and/or contractors, to defending a concrete sub-contractor in a multi-million dollar “defective pour” case.

Mr. Matherne has both prosecuted and defended non-compete/trade secret/business torts cases in industries ranging from financial brokerage houses to publishing companies to insurance agencies.

His background also includes numerous representations of parties regarding copyright and/or trademark infringement litigation and related contractual disputes.

EDUCATION

J.D., Vanderbilt University, 1984

Student Writing Editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review, 1983-1984

B.A., University of North Carolina

ADMISSIONS

Tennessee

HONORS

Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Insurance Law, Litigation – Insurance and Litigation-Intellectual Property, 2012-present
Highest Professional AV Rating by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Law Clerk for the Hon. Thomas A. Wiseman, Jr., 1984-1985

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND MEMBERSHIPS

Nashville, Tennessee and Federal Bar Associations
Admitted to practice before all courts of Tennessee, before numerous federal district courts (including the Middle District of Tennessee), before the Sixth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals, and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

PUBLICATIONS

“Ninth Circuit Court Ruling in Taylor Swift ‘Shake It Off’ Case May Portend a ‘Shake Down’ of Defendant Copyright Holders and the Lessening of the ‘Originality’ Requirement for Copyright Protection,” FindingIPValue.com (November 2019).
“Unanimous Music Modernization Act Passage and Enactment Positively Impacts the Music Industry,” FindingIPValue.com (November 2018)
“Trade Secrets and the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine,” Memphis Daily News (April 2016)
“Celebrity Selfies And Businesses’ Legal Obligations,” Memphis Daily News (October 2015)
“Tennessee Trademark Protection: An Affordable Way to Protect A Slogan or Logo,” Memphis Daily News (April 2015)
“Intellectual Property Audits for Companies,” Memphis Daily News (March 2014)
“Descendibility of Publicity Rights in Tennessee,” Vol. 53 Tennessee Law Review No. 4 (1986)
Note: “Forced Disclosure of Academic Research,” Vol. 37 Vanderbilt Law Review No. 3 (1984)

PRESENTATIONS

“Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act,” Wyatt’s 20th Annual Nashville Corporate Counsel Seminar, December 2017