Kara Hunter has joined the Nashville law firm of Gilbert Russell McWherter PLC as an associate. Hunter is a 2011 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law. She will work primarily in the firm’s civil litigation group as a labor and employment lawyer.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP recently welcomed E. Todd Presnell as a partner in its Nashville office.

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP recently announced that partner Miranda K. Kelley has been named chair of “Women of Waller,” an internal initiative that provides female attorneys with opportunities for mentoring, community service, work-life balance and leadership development, and that MaryEllen Sullivan Pickrell has been named professional development partner. In this new position, she will oversee a firm-wide leadership training program. Kelley focuses her practice on mergers and acquisitions and securities law.

The Nashville office of Adams and Reese has welcomed four new lawyers to the firm: partners C. Dale Allen and Thomas Anthony Swafford, special counsel R. Slade Sevier and associate Kyle A. Young.

Allen is a corporate lawyer who focuses his practice in transportation, government relations and regulatory law. He will serve as legislative counsel to business, trade associations and non-profit organizations. He earned his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law in 1983.

The Memphis law firm of McNabb, Bragorgos & Burgess PLLC has named John A. Peebles as a member of the firm. Peebles, a 2002 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law, practices in the area of civil litigation, including product liability defense, commercial litigation and insurance defense litigation.

Caroline “Callie” Caldwell has been named the first public interest counselor at the University of Memphis School of Law. As a member of the career services staff, she will help implement the school’s mandatory pro bono requirement that goes into effect with the fall 2012 entering class. Among her duties, Caldwell will identify existing pro bono opportunities, work with the bench and bar to develop new opportunities and help students find pro bono work that is relevant to their planned career path. Caldwell is a 2010 graduate of the law school.

Stephanie A. Elkins recently joined the Nashville law firm of Morgan & Akins PLLC, where she will focus on civil litigation, including workers’ compensation and insurance defense. Prior to joining the firm, Elkins was a law clerk to Justice Edward Thomas Brady of the North Carolina Supreme Court. She earned her law degree from the Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law.

The Law Offices of Woods & Woods has added two new attorneys to its Nashville office. Allison Harding joins the firm after earning her law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School recently. She will assist clients with employment and divorce matters. While in law school, Harding served as a student liaison for the Tennessee Bar Association as well as class representative to the Vanderbilt Bar Association. Michelle Reid graduated from the Nashville School of Law in 2010 and plans to handle workers’ compensation, criminal defense and family law matters.

The Nashville law firm of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis has hired a number of new lawyers. TBA members among the group include Carol Brass, a graduate of Columbia Law School, who will practice in the area of health care regulatory law; Brian Clifford, a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, who will practice in the area of employment law; Christopher W.

Nashville lawyers Steve Anderson and Sara Reynolds have left Walker, Tipps & Malone PLC to form the new law firm of Anderson & Reynolds PLC. The firm, which is located at 3100 West End Ave., Suite 225, Nashville 37203, can be reached at (615) 942-1700 or online at www.andersonreynolds.com. The pair will handle civil litigation matters, including health care, business, personal injury and civil rights cases. Anderson earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1988.

Davidson County General Sessions Judge Daniel B. Eisenstein was honored with the 2011 Friend of NAMI Tennessee award by the National Alliance on Mental Illness during the organization’s recent conference in Nashville. The award recognizes Eisenstein for his long career helping people with mental illness and providing diversion, treatment and rehabilitation programs. Eisenstein has presided over Davidson County’s Mental Health Court since 2004 as part of his duties as General Sessions judge.