Dawn Deaner became the Public Defender for Nashville and Davidson County on September 16, 2008 when the Metropolitan Council elected her to fill the vacancy in the Office created by the untimely death of her predecessor, Ross Alderman. Prior to that, she spent more than 11 years as a lawyer with the Office, handling some of the most complex and challenging cases the Office has seen, more often than not with success. She is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School, where she teaches a course in Trial Advocacy. During her legal career, she also worked for a year as an attorney for the Metropolitan Department of Law.
As the Public Defender, Dawn currently serves on the Mayor’s Criminal Justice Steering Committee. She is an active member of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and in 2002, she received the Robert W. Ritchie Award for Outstanding Service to that organization. Dawn is also a member of the Nashville Bar Association, and in 2006, she became a Nashville Bar Foundation Fellow. In 2007 and 2008, she volunteered her time to coach the East Literature Magnet High School’s mock trial team in the High School Mock Trial competition.
Dawn was born and raised in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, where she was the salutatorian of her high school class. She graduated from Columbia College in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and she received her law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1996. In 1997, she married her husband and native Nashvillian, Richard Norris. They live in Madison with their two dogs, Punkin and Rally.
