Haslam Appoints TSU Alumnus as Judge for Tennessee Court of Appeals

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed an alumnus from Tennessee State University to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Western Section.

Chancellor Kenny W. Armstrong of Memphis, Tennessee will replace Judge Holly Kirby, who has been appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court. The appointment is effective Sept. 1.

“Chancellor Armstrong has an impressive record of service, and I am pleased to make this appointment,” Haslam said in a news release June 18. “His experience in public and private practice as well as at the state and federal level will serve the Western Section well.”

Armstrong, 66, has been a trial judge in Shelby County Chancery Court since September 2006. He was clerk and master of Shelby County Chancery Court from January 1997-August 2006. Armstrong was recipient of the Charles A. Rond Memorial Award for Outstanding Judge of the Year in Shelby County in 2012.

“I appreciate Governor Haslam’s confidence in me, and I look forward to serving my state in this new role as an appellate judge,” Armstrong said.

A Munford, Tennessee native, Armstrong was in private practice in Memphis from June 1978-December 1996. He served as legal officer in the United States Air Force from June 1974-June 1978 at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Blytheville Air Force Base in Arkansas. He was an assistant U.S. attorney in the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington from August 1973-June 1974.

Armstrong earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Tennessee State University in 1970 and received his juris doctorate from Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina, in 1973. Armstrong and his wife, Verline, have two adult children, daughter Shani and son Brian.

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