New Board Members Selected from Across the State
Nashville ― The Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association recently elected Carey Acerra as president for the 2023-24 term. Acerra, a Memphis attorney, replaces Mark Chalos of Nashville who served as president from 2022-23. Chalos now assumes the role of immediate past president and Danny Ellis of Chattanooga advances to the office of president-elect.
“Carey will be a true asset to the Association and the citizens of Tennessee,” stated TTLA immediate Past President Mark Chalos. “As an experienced personal injury lawyer, she fights on behalf of deserving people and will do a tremendous job leading the state’s top trial attorneys as president.”
Ms. Acerra opened Jehl Law Group in 2013 with her mentor and friend, Cameron Jehl. There she specializes in cases assisting the elderly and persons injured in assisted and long-term care facilities. Carey Acerra’s legal career reflects both deep determination and a sense of duty toward those in need. She graduated 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.