Mary Wagner, former chair of the Shelby County Republican Party, has been appointed by Governor Bill Haslam as Circuit Court Judge for the 30th Judicial District (Shelby County), replacing Judge Donna M. Fields, who has retired.
Mary Wagner
Wagner resigned her GOP chairmanship earlier this year upon news of her pending appointment to the bench and was replaced as head of the local party by interim Chairman Lee Mills.
In recent years she has been at the Memphis law firm of Rice, Amundsen & Capterton. Her emphases there included family law, non-profit/business organization, personal injury, and probate law.
Before joining Rice, Amundsen & Capterton in 2011, Wagner was at the Leitner, Williams, Dooley and Napolitan firm. She was a law clerk from 2009-2010 for Judge Steven Stafford of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, and in 2008-9 clerked for Judge Robert L. Childers in the Shelby County Circuit Court. She worked as an extern in 2008 with the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Tennessee.
Wagner received a bachelor’s degree in 2006 from the University of Colorado, majoring in political science, and received her law degree from the University of Memphis in 2009. She was a research assistant in 2007 for Prof. Andrew McClurg during law school.
Wagner is married to Tom Owen, and they have a son, Benjamin.
