A local attorney was sworn in as federal bankruptcy judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee in a private ceremony Friday in Chattanooga.
Nicholas Whittenburg, a graduate of the Emory University School of Law and Vanderbilt University, will fill the judgeship vacated by Judge John C. Cook, who retired in March after 28 years on the bench.
Whittenburg is from Crossville, Tenn., and has practiced law in Tennessee and Georgia for 25 years. He joined Miller & Martin PLLC as a partner in 1990, but left to become associate general counsel with AmSouth Bank, now Regions Bank, in 2001. He returned to Miller & Martin as a member in 2004 and has worked as a member of the firm's bankruptcy practice group.
Whittenburg was appointed by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upon recommendation by the 6th Circuit Judicial Council, and was sworn in Friday by U.S. District Judge Harry S. Mattice.
"It's a huge honor," Whittenburg said. "I can only aspire to be as good a judge as retired Judge John Cook."