Carey Acerra’s legal career reflects both deep determination and a sense of duty toward those in need. Shegraduated from the University of Memphis in 1997 magna cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in English. Ms. Acerra then received her Juris Doctorate degree, cum laude, from the Cecil C. Humphrey School of Law at the University of Memphis in 2004, where she was a member of the National Mock Trial Team and received the honor for Best Brief in her Legal Methods section.

Clients and their families describe Ms. Acerra’s depth of knowledge and zeal at advocacy in the courtroom, while colleagues endorse her skill in nursing home, arbitration and corporate liability issues – readily referring complex cases to her.

Ms. Acerra has been selected as a Thomson Reuters Super Lawyer for every year between 2016 and 2020, with special recognition of her services to clients in personal injury cases. Her trial successes include a $30 million verdict against a Memphis nursing home and its owners, where she pierced the nursing home’s corporate veil and obtained the first verdict in the nation against the individual owner, a feat so unique it was featured in The New York Times.

Prior to opening the Jehl Law Group, Ms. Acerra worked for Wilkes & McHugh, P.A., for nine years, specializing in nursing home negligence, medical malpractice, healthcare liability actions, maritime law, personal injury, and general tort litigation. In her last year of law school, Ms. Acerra clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Childers, Judge of the Circuit Court of Shelby County, where she gained invaluable litigation experience, as well as penned numerous opinions for the trial court and the Worker’s Compensation Panel of the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Ms. Acerra has worked closely with the Tennessee legislature on issues of elder abuse and neglect, protection of Constitutional rights, corporate liability and COVID-19 legislation, to ensure the rights of Tennessee’s most vulnerable citizens are protected. She is currently working with the Women’s Caucus of the American Association for Justice to lobby the U.S. Congress to enact the FAIR Act against forced arbitration, and for transparency and accountability in the delivery of nursing home care.

Prior to attending law school, Ms. Acerra worked in the legal field as a paralegal and secretary for several firms that had experience in medical malpractice, insurance defense, domestic relations, labor law, and general tort litigation.

Ms. Acerra has served as Vice President for West Tennessee for the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association since 2017 and chairs its Women’s Caucus. She has also served on the statewide Board of Governors of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association since 2012.

Passionate about cultivating the legal professionals of the future, Ms. Acerra is also an interviewer for the Tennessee Bar of Law Examiners, helping admit qualified new professionals into the sector and ensuring that robust standards of practice continue to be met in the state. In 2018, she coached the first ever team from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphrey School of Law in the Regional American Bar Association’s Arbitration Competition.

Licensed to practice law in Tennessee, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, Ms. Acerra is a member of the Memphis Bar Association, multiple state bar associations, and the American Association for Justice.