MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) _ Longtime Tennessee Chancery Court Judge Walter L. Evans is retiring at the end of November, court officials said.
Evans has served as a chancery court judge in Shelby County for 22 years. He has presided over numerous high-profile cases, including some involving Memphis-based shipping giant FedEx, the Memphis Grizzlies and Shelby County Juvenile Court.
Before winning election to chancery court in 1998, Evans worked in private practice and served as a Memphis municipal court judge, the Tennessee Supreme Court said Tuesday.
As a private lawyer, he argued and won a case, Parker v. Randolph, before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1979.
Evans went to Howard University after graduating high school in Memphis. He graduated from Howard’s law school and later served two years as a military lawyer.
After completing his military service, he earned a masters degree in 1971 from Harvard Law School, where he was one of a few African Americans in his class.
