Travis McDonoughLongtime legal colleagues as well as recent rivals for a federal judgeship say Chattanooga Chief of Staff Travis McDonough is qualified for the spot. But some opponents in a recent city legal battle question the likely nominee’s future fairness.
Fellow attorneys at the Miller & Martin law firm said this week that news of McDonough being picked for a presidential nomination to the U.S. District judge seat here isn’t surprising.
“Travis is very bright, very hardworking, very committed,” said Roger Dickson, who was a federal magistrate here from 1979 to 1985 before leaving the bench to return to private practice.
Dickson encountered McDonough, 42, when the junior lawyer joined the firm in 1997. McDonough worked with Dickson on multiple federal lawsuits and later rose to head the firm’s litigation department.
Miller & Martin was also the home law firm of U.S. District Judge R. Allan Edgar. Edgar took senior status in 2005 and later moved to Michigan, where he still hears some cases. Sitting U.S. District Judge Harry S. “Sandy” Mattice also worked for the firm before being appointed U.S. attorney here and then federal judge in 2005.