Stites & Harbison attorney Gregory D. Smith has been inducted as a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Founded in 1950, ACTL is an invitation-only fellowship of exemplary trial lawyers from the U.S. and Canada. Fellowship is awarded to those who demonstrate the highest standards of trial advocacy, ethical conduct, integrity, professionalism and collegiality and have been in practice for at least 15 years. Candidates are nominated by fellows and approved by the entire membership. Membership in ACTL is limited to 1% of the total lawyer population in the U.S. and Canada.

Smith is a member of Stites & Harbison and serves as the Nashville office executive member. As a member of the Family Law Service Group, his practice focuses primarily on complex divorce, custody and support disputes in courts in Nashville and surrounding counties, and in international custody litigation. He also has an active appellate and mediation practice. His appeals include a Tennessee Supreme Court case that set the standard for subject matter jurisdiction in child support cases. Additionally, he has experience handling commercial litigation matters in both Tennessee state and federal courts.

Outside of the firm, Smith has served on the board of directors of the Nashville Bar Association and been past-chair of its Juvenile Court Committee and the Circuit and Chancery Court Committee. He has presented numerous seminars during the past decade and more focusing on family law and ethical issues for the Tennessee Judicial Conference, National Business Institute, the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, the Nashville Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association, among others, and has regularly provided annual updates to the leading treatise on Tennessee family law.

Smith earned his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School and his B.S. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Adams and Reese welcomes associate Caleb

Adams and Reese has added Taylor Caleb as an associate in the firm’s Intersection of Business & Government Team.

Caleb’s practice focuses on advising clients with transactional legal work in public finance and economic development. She assists clients with complex financing matters involving local government projects, sports facilities, multifamily housing developments and more.

Caleb graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2020, where she was the senior publication editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. Before law school, she earned degrees psychology and general business from the University of Alabama.

Cornelius & Collins hires Smythe as associate

Gage C. Smythe has joined Cornelius & Collins, LLP, as an associate attorney with a concentration on construction and general civil litigation.

Smythe previously was an associate with a firm in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a graduate of Samford University Cumberland School of Law, cum laude, where he served as the executive editor for the Cumberland Law Review and was an active member of Cumberland’s National Moot Court Team. He earned his B.A. at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.

Smythe is a member of the Nashville Bar Association, American Bar Association and Birmingham Bar Association.

Jeffries named VU nursing school dean

Pamela R. Jeffries, an internationally recognized leader and innovator in nursing and health care education, will become dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing effective July 1, pending Board of Trust approval.

Jeffries, professor and dean of the George Washington University School of Nursing in Washington, D.C., succeeds Linda Norman, who plans to step down June 30.

Jeffries was appointed the second dean of the George Washington University School of Nursing in 2015, five years after its establishment as a standalone school within the university. A proponent of strengths-based leadership, Jeffries’ priority was to expand the infrastructure and build upon the processes and standards for the young, emerging school, which experienced a significant period of growth during her tenure. As dean, Jeffries also charged a taskforce with examining issues related to diversity and inclusion, which resulted in the formation of a diversity council and other initiatives to build an inclusive and diverse community.

She previously served as the inaugural vice provost for digital initiatives at Johns Hopkins University. She also held faculty leadership roles at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and Indiana University School of Nursing earlier in her career.

Jeffries is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the NLN’s Academy of Nursing Education, the Society of Simulation in Healthcare and an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows program. Other honors include the Sigma Theta Tau International Edith Moore Copeland Award for Excellence in Creativity, the NLN’s Mary Adelaide Nutting Award for Outstanding Leadership in Nursing Education, the Virginia Nurses Association Foundation Leadership Excellence Award for Nursing School Dean and induction into the Sigma Theta Tau International Researchers Hall of Fame.

After earning a degree in nursing from Ball State University, Jeffries earned a master’s and doctorate of nursing from Indiana University.

DeAngelis Diamond hires senior project manager

DeAngelis Diamond has hired Adam Milner as senior project manager.

With more than 12 years of construction experience, Milner’s portfolio totals 3.9 million square feet and $1.8 billion. Some of his top projects include Grand Hyatt Nashville, Vanderbilt Engineering and Science Building, Linea Apartments and VA New Orleans Replacement Medical Center.

After earning a degree in building construction from the University of Florida, he began his career in Las Vegas before transitioning to the Nashville area in 2018. He will lead the Vitality Senior Living project, Capitol View-Block F multifamily project in downtown Nashville and provide operational expertise on future project pursuits.