Jeff Parham, a Martin attorney and UTM alumnus, takes office Sept. 1 as the new circuit judge for the 27th Judicial Court, which serves Obion and Weakley counties.
His first jury trial is Sept. 9.
Parham compares his transition from lawyer to judge to a baseball game.
“You become the gamekeeper. Like a referee at a ball game, I have to make sure everyone is playing by the rules,” he said.
Parham was born in Union City and grew up in South Fulton. He currently lives in Martin with his wife, Tina, and their sons. Alex attends a chiropractic school in Missouri, Blake is a junior at UTM and Ethan is a seventh-grader at Martin Middle School.
Parham graduated from South Fulton High School in 1978 and then began classes that fall at UTM. His favorite experiences at UTM involved taking outdoor classes.
“My favorite experience was rappelling off the EPS building. I was scared of heights. So, overcoming that was tremendous for me,” Parham said.
Parham describes his entire experience at UTM as enjoyable. While at UTM, he was involved in several different organizations associated with criminal justice. He also was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and served on the IFC, Interfraternity Council.
He advises current UTM students to start out strong in their college careers, because it is so easy to bring grades down.
“Those first two semesters, study hard and make good
grades. Life will get a whole lot easier from there,” Parham said.
Parham graduated from UTM in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. He did not get back into school until six years later when he attended the Nashville School of Law in 1989, where he got his law degree.
“The unique thing about Nashville is that it’s a night school. You have to have a job during the day and go to school at night,” Parham said.
For the first six months, he worked in retail. Then he got a job with Neal and Harwell, a law firm.
Parham traveled during his six-year hiatus from school. He lived in North Carolina, then Florida, then went back to North Carolina.
From there, he went to Memphis, then to Nashville and later moved back to Martin, where he has been ever since.
He came back to Martin because it was his home and he wanted to raise his family here.
“I had my fill of big cities and I wanted to raise my boys in a small town,” Parham said.
Parham had been practicing law for 21 years when the opportunity for the position of judge came his way. The previous judge was retiring. So, he took advantage of the moment.
“Most lawyers have the goal of being a judge. Timing was my opportunity to do this,” Parham said.
He also ran because he has a passion for public service. He actively participates in it by being a member of various civic clubs and by serving on several boards.
On Thursday, Aug. 7, after a long day of work, Parham heard the news about his victory in the election.
“My day had started at 5:15 in the morning. So, when 9 p.m. came around, I was exhausted. It was all very surreal to me when I found out,” Parham said.
The impact of his election did not hit him until about two days later. People are now sending in jury questions and pending cases. So, reality is setting in pretty quickly, he said.
Parham does not expect his new job to change his life in many ways, except to reduce his stressful and chaotic weekends.
“As a trial lawyer, you work weekends preparing for the trial. As judge, I probably won’t have to work weekends as much,” Parham said.
Parham doesn’t plan to make any immediate changes, but hopes he will affect the communities in Obion and Weakley counties in a positive way.
“The people will have somebody experienced and somebody with common sense. I have a level temperament. I can be fair to everyone,” Parham said.
Mark Maloney of Martin, a UTM senior Political Science and Communications major, served as Parham’s intern during his election campaign.
“I want to make sure he [Maloney] is mentioned, because he did much more for me than most from a political standpoint. I owe him a debt of gratitude,” Parham said.
Maloney said he was compelled to join the campaign because of Parham’s dedication.
“What spoke volumes to me, and was ultimately the initial reason I joined him, was the incredible dedication he showed. I’ve known Judge Parham for close to a decade and couldn’t think of a more deserving individual to serve as our next circuit court judge,” Maloney said.
Featured Photo Credit: (Parham Family)
