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Eric G. Osborne

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(615) 742-4544

(615) 742-4539

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Eric Osborne is an accomplished attorney and Professor of Contracts who focuses his litigation practice on contract disputes, antitrust, and novel constitutional and civil rights cases. He also serves as outside counsel to multiple churches and non-profits, is active with legal aid and the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission, and regularly helps clients navigate issues related to the government, such as bid protests and government investigations.

Eric is best known for this work handling high-profile matters involving novel constitutional and other issues of law. Indeed, clients often ask for Eric when a case raises an issue never heard before in Tennessee. For the past three years, Eric has led the firm’s team that has represented the surviving victims of the Covenant School tragedy in their effort to protect children from harm by preventing the release of a school shooter’s writings (Brewer v. Metro). The case been profiled in the New York Times and Guardian of London, and Eric and the team were awarded the 2025 Harris Gilbert Award by the Tennessee Bar Association, given each year to a team of lawyers in private practice who perform exceptional pro bono service. In prior years Eric handled Hall v. Trump, a civil rights case that resulted in the end of solitary confinement in Tennessee, Ashe / Lawson v. Hargett, a challenge to the constitutionality of a statute that criminalizes voting in political primary elections, and Newsom v. Golden, which was heard by the Tennessee Supreme Court and clarified the parameters of the Tennessee Open Meetings Act.

In his commercial litigation practice, Eric regularly handles complex cases involving contract construction and a wide range of other business disputes. Reflective of his sophistication in these matters, Eric currently serves as a Professor of Contracts at the Nashville School of Law. Since 2024, Eric has been recognized in Commercial Litigation by Best Lawyers in America®.

Eric’s antitrust practice focuses on major national cases. Eric has led the firm’s multi-year effort on behalf of many of the country’s largest employers against health insurance companies for conspiring not to compete in the market for self-funded health insurance. Eric has also been heavily involved in antitrust matters involving the packaged seafood industry and credit card companies.

Eric also regularly helps clients navigate challenge pertaining to government. In addition to the civil rights work noted above, this includes criminal defense, where Eric brings both prosecutorial and defense-side experience to his representation in white-collar criminal matters and government investigations. Eric also regularly handles bid protests at the municipal and state level for clients challenging or defending government contract awards.

In addition to teaching contracts, Eric is committed to the community. He serves as the outside general counsel to multiple non-profit clients, is heavily involved with legal aid and contributes substantial pro bono time every year. Recently Eric was named incoming Chair of the Access to Justice Commission by the Tennessee Supreme Court and to the Leaders Council by the Legal Services Corporation. In both roles, Eric works to increase public awareness of and support for equal access to justice for low-income Americans.

A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and lifelong Presbyterian, Eric has a robust practice serving the legal needs of churches and not-for-profit organizations. He also volunteers his time and efforts on behalf of several religious and charitable endeavors. For eight years he served on the board of the Presbyterian Foundation—the national foundation that supports the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and he previously served on the board of the Medical Benevolence Foundation, which provides medical care and medical training in some of the poorest countries in the world. Locally, Eric serves as an elder and on the Endowment Committee at First Presbyterian Church. He previously served on the board of the Nashville Wine Auction.

Eric is married to Eleanor, a physician. Eric and Eleanor are both native Tennesseans with family ties that go back over a century in the state.

  • Stanford Law School, J.D.
  • Princeton Theological Seminary, Master of Divinity
  • Amherst College, B.A., cum laude

  • District of Columbia
  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

  • Best Lawyers in America®, Commercial Litigation (2024 – 2026)
  • Best Lawyers in America® “One to Watch,” Commercial Litigation (2021 – 2023)
  • Mid-South Super Lawyers “Rising Star,” Appellate (2016 – 2021)
  • Nashville Bar Journal Article of the Year Award (2024)
  • Tennessee Bar Association Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Attorneys of the Year Award (2025)
  • Tennessee Supreme Court Attorneys for Justice Pro Bono Honor Roll (2025)

  • “Democracy, the Justice Gap, and Preserving the Rule of Law,” Co-presenter, Nashville Bar Association Voices of Democracy Law Day (April 26, 2024)
  • “A Punch List for Construction – of Statutes and Contracts,” Presenter, TBA Federal Practice Section’s Annual CLE (September 2020)
  • “Legal Aid and the Importance of Access to Justice,” Presenter, Tennessee Bar Association’s Litigation Law Ethics Forum CLE (March 30, 2021)

  • Fellow, Nashville Bar Foundation
  • Incoming Chair, Tennessee Access to Justice Commission
  • Member, Legal Council, Legal Services Corporation
  • Member, Litigation Section, American Bar Association
  • Member, Nashville Bar Association
  • Member, Appellate Practice and Litigation Sections, Tennessee Bar Association

  • Board of Directors, Nashville Wine Auction
  • Session Class of 2027, First Presbyterian Church