On March 29, 2021, following his term as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, J. Douglas Overbey rejoined the law firm he co-founded in 1982 with Claude K. Robertson and J. Edward Ingram. His primary practice areas will be white-collar defense and other governmental investigations and enforcement, including criminal antitrust, anti-corruption, fraud, and money laundering; high-stakes litigation, particularly involving complex commercial claims and civil antitrust; healthcare; and state and local government law
In 2017, Overbey was appointed U.S. Attorney by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the United States Senate. As chief federal law enforcement officer for his district, Overbey was responsible for investigation and prosecution of all violations of federal law, civil defense of matters in which the U.S. was a defendant, and affirmative civil in enforcement actions brought in the name of the U.S. government. In addition to his duties as U.S. Attorney, Overbey served as Co-Chairman of the Tennessee Dangerous Drug Task Force and Chairman of the Executive Board for the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Overbey received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Carson-Newman College in 1976 and graduated first in his class in the Spring of 1979 from the University of Tennessee, College of Law, where he was named to the Order of the Coif. After passing the Bar examination, he was admitted to practice law in Tennessee in 1979. Overbey is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Tennessee Supreme Court. He has an AV Preeminent peer rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
Prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney, Overbey was serving his third term in the Tennessee Senate. He previously served eight years in the Tennessee House of Representatives and on the Blount County Board of Commissioners.
Overbey served on the Finance and Health Committees in the House and Senate, as Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and the General Assembly’s Arts Caucus, and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees. His major legislative accomplishments include passage of the innovative TNInvestco program, which became a model for similar legislation in other states, the annual Tennessee hospital assessment maintaining funding for state’s Medicaid program, and legislation in support of military veterans and their families.
Among his awards and honors, Overbey received the 2011 Bud Cramer Award from the National Children’s Alliance, the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Carson-Newman University, the 2017 Presidential Award from the Tennessee Judicial Conference, and the Knoxville Bar Association’s “Law & Liberty” Award in 2009. In 2011, he received the Community Leadership Award from Leadership Blount and was inducted into the Blount County Hall of Fame in 2016.
Overbey resides in Maryville with his wife, Kay. They have three married daughters and six grandchildren and are parishioners of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Maryville. Overbey served ten years as Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, is the only layperson to have served as Chairman of the Diocese’s Standing Committee, and has published two articles in The Anglican Digest.