Tyler Yarbro enjoys a broad litigation practice, assisting clients in the courtroom and in resolving all manner of employment, probate, criminal, and business litigation matters. Having tried more than twenty jury cases and represented hundreds of clients before trial courts across Tennessee, Yarbro brings a wealth of practical experience and skill in courtroom advocacy when representing clients in disputed litigation matters. Lawyers regularly seek her counsel and rely on her expertise to navigate difficult litigation matters.

Yarbro began her legal career Nashville’s Metropolitan Public Defender’s Office where she was in court nearly every day and represented indigent clients facing every level of offense. Since 2016, Yarbro has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University, teaching a course in trial advocacy to law students.

Yarbro’s representative work include the following cases:

In re Philip Roseman 2012 Irrevocable Gift Trust, No. M2017-01994-COA-R3-CV, 2018 WL 3217245 (Tenn. Ct. App. July 2, 2018). Yarbro obtained summary judgment in defense of a trust being contested, a trial court ruling which was affirmed on appeal, with Yarbro serving also as appellate counsel.

Monypeny v. Khiev, No. W2014–00656–COA–R3–CV, 2015 WL 1541333 (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 1, 2015). Yarbro served alongside Donald Capparella as trial counsel and appellate counsel in a car accident case in Memphis, where the jury returned one of the largest awards in Tennessee that year and the Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court judgment.

Ellis v. Modi, No. M2019-01161-COA-R3-CV, 2020 WL 2316649 (Tenn. Ct. App. May 11, 2020). Yarbro served alongside Donald Capparella as appellate counsel in successfully vacating judgment against client because of evidentiary errors at trial.

Yarbro has also been involved in recent appeals involving significant developments in Tennessee tort law.

Binns v. Trader Joe's East, Inc., 690 S.W. 3d 241 (Tenn. 2024), serving as appellate counsel in this landmark case rejecting the adoption of the Preemption Doctrine, which would have allowed employers to shield themselves from their own liability in negligence cases via vicarious liability.

Yebuah v. Center for Urological Treatment, PLC, 624 S.W.3d 481 (Tenn. 2021); and

McClay v. Airport Management Services, LLC, 596 S.W.3d 686 (Tenn. 2020), serving as amicus counsel regarding the constitutionality of Tennessee’s cap on non-economic damages.

Yarbro has served as defense counsel at all stages of criminal proceedings.

State v. Jackson, Rutherford County Criminal Court Case No. 75CC1-2020-CR-83261. Yarbro represented defendant at a jury trial, where the State of Tennessee dismissed case with prejudice in the middle of Yarbro’s cross-examination of the testifying co-defendant.

State v. Lanier, 870 F.3d 546 (6th Cir. 2017). Yarbro served as appellate counsel with Donald Capparella in case where the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated conviction on the grounds of juror misconduct.

State v. Bakari, No. M2010-01819-CCA-R3-CD, 2012 WL 538950 (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 15, 2012). Yarbro served as trial counsel, successfully preserving dispositive issues on appeal that resulted in a vacated conviction.

State v. L.W., 350 S.W.3d 911 (Tenn. 2011). Yarbro served as trial counsel challenging the former Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk practice of refusing to process partial expungement of records.

Yarbro has been selected by her peers for inclusion in the 2016-2024 Editions of The Best Lawyers in America©. She is currently listed in the the fields of Litigation: Labor and Employment, Employment law: Individuals, and Employment Law: Management).

Yarbro is a seven-time Nashville Business Journal “Best of the Bar” honoree, and in 2014 she was named to the Mid-South “Rising Star” List–a designation given to no more than 2.5% of attorneys in the state. She was a member of the 2012 TBA Leadership Law Class, and the Nashville Post named her one of “Nashville’s Law Leaders Rising.” Tyler has been selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© since 2016. She is currently listed in the fields of Litigation: Labor and Employment, Litigation: Trusts & Estates, Employment Law: Individuals, and Employment Law: Management.

Each year since 2014, the Tennessee Supreme Court has named Yarbro an “Attorney for Justice,” signifying that she has devoted at least 50 hours per year to pro bono legal work. Since 2021, in particular, she has provided substantial pro bono representation to individuals and organizations that provide abortion care in Tennessee. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Yarbro has become an expert on Tennessee’s abortion law. She has worked with other lawyers, including her law partner Margaret Behm, to found and build the Tennessee Freedom Circle, an organization that advocates to change the laws in Tennessee that impair reproductive freedom.

Yarbro graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Wellesley College where she studied English and economics. Yarbro earned her law degree at the University of Virginia. While there, she was recognized for her legal writing and was named a Dillard Fellow to assist and tutor in the first-year legal research and writing program.

Yarbro is active in the Nashville community, having served for nine years on the Community Corrections Advisory Board and for three years on the founding board of the Human Trafficking Survivors Court Foundation. She volunteers in various leadership roles at her church, Christ Church Cathedral, where she currently serves on the Vestry and just recently completed a two-year term as Senior Warden. In 2017, Tyler was nominated by the Mayor and appointed by the Metro Council to the Greenways and Open Spaces Commission. By virtue of this position on the Commission, Yarbro also serves on the board of directors for Greenways for Nashville.

She is married to Jeff Yarbro, also an attorney. They have two children.