Judge Sophia Brown Crawford

Judge Crawford was elected by the Metro Council on October 16th, 2012 to complete the term of Judge Betty Adams Green.

Sophia Brown Crawford was appointed to the bench as Magistrate in October, 2002 by Judge Betty Adams Green and has presided continuously since that time. She primarily presides over neglect, dependency, abuse and delinquency cases although she has experience presiding in all other areas of Juvenile Court as well. Prior to her appointment, she was in the private practice of law for fourteen years with a focus on family and juvenile law. For ten years during her private practice, she was appointed as a contract attorney by the Governor of Tennessee to prosecute Termination of Parental Rights cases for the State of Tennessee, Department of Children’s Services for eighteen counties. She’s spent her entire twenty three years in the legal field with a focus on families and children. She is a member of the Tennessee Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Nashville Bar Association and the Women’s Political Collaborative. She is a member of Christ Church Nashville. Judge Crawford resides in Nashville with her husband of twenty seven years and she has one adult daughter and one minor daughter.

Court Administrator Tim Adgent

Tim Adgent received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Middle Tennessee State University, State of Tennessee professional Counseling Certification, and certification in the Juvenile Justice Management by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Courts.  He has worked over 35 years at Juvenile Court in Davidson County, beginning his career as a probation officer and working in several positions which laid a foundation for his current role as court administrator.

Appointed to the bench by Juvenile Judge Betty Adams Green in October of 2002, his current duties include presiding over cases of neglected and abused children as well as juvenile delinquency.  Magistrate Calhoun also supervises the Family Treatment Court and Juvenile Drug Court programs.

Magistrate Calhoun received his B.A. from Duke University in Political Science in 1989.  He received his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1994.  After graduation from law school, he accepted employment with the Metropolitan Public Defender's Office in Nashville, TN where he remained until his appointment as a magistrate.  While at the Public Defender's Office, he practiced adult criminal defense for the first four years of his employment.  He was then offered a lateral transfer within the office as the newly created position of Metro Guardian Ad Litem, a position he held immediately prior to coming aboard with Juvenile Court.  In this capacity, he represented children's best interests in child welfare proceedings before the Juvenile Court.

Magistrate Calhoun resides in Nashville with his family.

Magistrate Sheila Denise Jones Calloway

Magistrate Sheila Calloway, a native of Louisville, KY, came to Nashville, Tennessee in 1987 to attend Vanderbilt University.  She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications in 1991 and her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1994 both from Vanderbilt University.  After graduating from law school, Magistrate Calloway worked at the Metropolitan Public Defender's Office in both the adult system as well as the juvenile system.  In January 2004, she was appointed by Judge Betty Adams Green to the position of Juvenile Court Magistrate.  She is a member of the Temple Church under the Pastorate of Darrell A. Drumwright.

She is happily married to Paul Butler Calloway, Jr. and the proud mother of one son, Paul Calloway, III.

Magistrate Carlton Lewis

Professional
1998-Present: Senior Magistrate, Davidson County Juvenile Court.
2003-Present: Instructor in Juvenile Law and Procedure, Nashville School of Law
1991-1998: Private Practice of Law, Petway, Blackshear & Cain
1986-1991: Assistant Metropolitan Public Defender

Professional Associations
1998-Present: Tennessee Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
2002-Present: Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth
Past Member: Harry Phillips American Inns of Court

Personal
Married with two adult sons
Member of Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church
Room In The Inn Volunteer

Magistrate J. Michael O'Neil

Magistrate O'Neil has served on the Davidson County, Tennessee Juvenile Court Bench since 1998.  He holds a Bachelors Degree in Anthropology from Vanderbilt University and is an Honors Graduate of the University of Tennessee, College of Law.  Prior to his appointment to the bench, Magistrate O'Neil practiced law with a commercial litigation firm in New Orleans, Louisiana and was also a solo practitioner.  Magistrate O'Neil has received additional training at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the National Judicial College, and the Lipscomb University Institute for Conflict Management.

He is married and is the father of two.

Magistrate Julie Ottman

Magistrate Julie Ottman received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994 from Marquette University.  She received her Juris Doctor in 1998 from the University of Detroit, Mercy School of Law.  After graduating from law school, Magistrate Ottman moved to Nashville, TN and was appointed as Assistant General Counsel for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.  In that capacity, Magistrate Ottman prosecuted dependent-neglect and abuse cases on behalf of the State of Tennessee.  In 2003, Magistrate Ottman was hired as an Attorney for Policy Studies Incorporated where she remained until her appointment as a Juvenile Court Magistrate in 2011. 

Court AdministratorJim Swack

Jim Swack, J.D., a 1988 graduate of David Lipscomb University, has been involved in the Juvenile Justice system in Tennessee since 1993, beginning as a foster care Social Counselor for the Department of Children’s Services before going to work as a Probation Officer for the Robertson County Juvenile Court in 1994. He went on to join the staff of the Juvenile Court of Nashville & Davidson County as a Probation Officer in 2000, and became a Program Manager for the court in 2002. Jim is a 2007 graduate of the Nashville School of Law and began serving as the Court Administrator of Business Operations for the Davidson County Juvenile Court in February 2010.

Magistrate Scott Rosenberg

Magistrate Scott Rosenberg is a 1990 graduate of the Nashville School of Law.  He began his legal career with the District Attorney General’s office in Davidson County in the Child Support Division.  In 1993 he was hired by the law firm of Joyce, Meredith, Flitcroft and Normand to handle child support cases.  In his role as a child support prosecutor Magistrate Rosenberg had primary responsibility for URESA and Bankruptcy cases.  Magistrate Rosenberg began private practice in 1997.  His practice focused mainly on Domestic Relation cases.  In 1998 Scott was appointed as the first Special Prosecutor for Domestic Relations cases by General Victor S. “Torry” Johnson.  In 1998 Scott was also appointed as a Referee of the Davidson County Juvenile Court by Judge Betty Adams Green and was re-appointed in 2006. 

Throughout the years Magistrate Rosenberg has served on several committees relating to child support issues at the local, state and federal levels.  Magistrate Rosenberg served on the Department of Human Services 2005 Child Support Guideline Advisory Committee and the Department of Human Services 2006 Enhanced Child Support Enforcement Committee.  In 2009 Magistrate Rosenberg was invited to become a member of the National Judicial Child Support Task Force under the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement.

Chief Probation Officer Wendy Buchanan

June 2013:  Wendy Buchanan was been promoted to the Position of Chief Probation Officer 

RETIRED

Former - Chief Probation Officer Charles Ward (Retired May 2013)

Charles Ward has an extremely diverse leadership background that emphasizes his dedication to improving the well being of families and communities.  He has a distinguished record as a juvenile professional, having participated as a member of numerous task forces and advisory panels through his career, including Tennessee Juvenile Court Services Association as an executive board member, the Mayor’s Council on Youth Opportunities, Man Power Advisory Board, Nashville Prevention Partners and numerous federally funded housing grants.

Charles is a graduate of Morristown College and Tennessee State University.  He is a member of Kappa Alpha Phi Fraternity, NAACP, and Tennessee State University Alumni Association.  He is a member of First Baptist Church South Inglewood.  He has the respect and admiration of his family, peers, and community.  Most of all, he is a devoted husband, proud father and grandfather. 

Whether plotting the course for the lives of children and youth in our city, mentoring staff at Juvenile Court, or playing 18 holes of golf around the country, Charles Ward is always level par!

Judge Green retired in September of 2012. She had served since1998 when she was elected the first female juvenile court judge in Davidson County.

During her undergraduate years at Vanderbilt University, Betty Adams Green began working with at risk children and families, a career choice that she has followed for more than 40 years.  While still in college, she worked each summer in a girl’s correctional school, and following her graduation in 1968, she began teaching in that same facility.  While working she pursued her Masters Degree from Middle Tennessee State University by attending night and weekend classes, and in 1972, she received her degree.

After teaching for seven years, she moved to Nashville and began work with the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, an advocacy agency for children and families.  In this role she worked closely with the Tennessee General Assembly, community agencies, and juvenile courts on such issues as the reform of Tennessee’s foster care system, changes in our child abuse laws and amendments to statutes governing unruly and delinquent youth.  In 1980, she was instrumental in the development of legislation creating the Tennessee Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and was appointed by Governor Lamar Alexander as the first Executive Secretary of that agency.  While serving in this capacity, she determined that a law degree would be invaluable in her work with the juvenile courts across the state as well as in her legislative efforts, so she enrolled in the Nashville School of Law.  Following her tenure there she graduated first in her class and went on to pass the bar exam.

Betty went to work in the District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney assigned to Nashville’s Juvenile Court in 1985, and handled all cases involving unruly and delinquent youth.  During this period, Governor Ned Ray McWherter announced his plans to create a separate department of state government to serve a delinquent and unruly youth and she was appointed as the first commissioner for this agency.  In only a few short years the department was called a “model for the nation” by then Attorney General Janet Reno.  During these years of service, Betty was responsible for implementing many new programs and bringing new focus to the needs of disadvantaged youth.

Following her service as commissioner, Betty worked as Regional Vice President for Children’s Comprehensive Service. While working for delinquent, unruly and disadvantaged youth she has also remained an active and contributing member of her community.  A member of a number of professional organizations, she is also active in Tulip Street United Methodist Church, Historic Edgefield, Inc. and other community programs, and serves on the board of the directors for the Martha O’Bryan Center.

While she has received awards recognizing her contributions to the juvenile justice field, she believes her greatest success has been raising her children to be strong 
young men and women, and to see them establish families and careers of their own which reflect values and priorities necessary for strong leaders.