Hon. Joe B. Brown (ret.)
Judge Brown was appointed a United States Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Tennessee on August 3, 1998. He retired in August of 2006 and has been serving on recall status since that time. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Brown joined the U.S. Trustee program in 1991 as Special Assistant U.S. Trustee and the National Coordinator for Criminal Bankruptcy Fraud. He has written much of the U.S. Trustee Manual on Criminal Fraud. Prior to the U.S. Trustee program, Judge Brown joined of the U.S. Attorney’s office as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in June of 1971. In 1981, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. He prosecuted a number of major fraud cases and argued over 200 cases in the Sixth Circuit. Judge Brown served as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army from 1965 until 1971, after he had completed law school. He continued to serve in the reserve until his retirement with the rank of Colonel in June of 1992. Judge Brown received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1965, where he elected to the Order of the Coif. He is admitted to practice in Kentucky and Tennessee, and before the United States Supreme Court.