Metro Council chambers, Aug. 5, 2025
The Metro Council has elected Nashville defense attorney Jodie Bell to fill a vacant seat on the Davidson County General Sessions Court. Bell will fill a court opening left by Judge Jim Todd, who was recently appointed by Gov. Bill Lee to the 20th Judicial District Criminal Court in Nashville.
Nominated by Councilmember Jacob Kupin, Bell received a majority of the vote from the council at a meeting on Tuesday.
“Jodie has — in addition to her extensive 30-year career in litigation — an excellent heart, sensitivity, fairness and care for people that is essential in the General Sessions Court,” Councilmember Clay Capp said during the meeting.
Bell graduated with a law degree from Golden Gate University in 1994 and has worked in Tennessee since 1997. She is a member of the Nashville Bar Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Lawyer’s Association for Women.
Bell has additionally served as a board member for Reconciliation Prison Ministries and the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She is married to former Nashville Mayor David Briley, who is currently a Davidson County Circuit Court judge.
“I can ensure this body that every person who appears before me — be they a victim, a witness, a party to a litigation, a person who is accused of crime — will be treated with dignity and respect regardless of a person’s race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender, foreign born, American born,” Bell said at the meeting. “I will treat them fairly.”
Bell received 20 votes at the meeting, topping four other candidates for the position.
Nashville attorney Michael Robinson received eight council votes. Davidson County Assistant District Attorney David Jones, who was nominated by Councilmember Kyonzté Toombs and considered running for the 7th Congressional District special election earlier this year, received two votes. Former attorney for the state Mark Cole, nominated by Councilmember Russ Bradford, garnered one vote. No votes were cast for the self-nominated Leroy Ellis, a local attorney.
The General Sessions Court heard over 171,000 cases last year, including civil, misdemeanor, felony, traffic, environmental and Metro ordinance violations. The court is made up of 11 judges who serve eight-year terms.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
