By Jane Salem, staff attorney, Nashville

Sometimes, you just know right away when something’s right.

Although Shaterra Reed Marion doesn’t consider herself an impulsive person, occasionally in her past, she has instantly, unexpectedly, and rather dramatically changed course–and it worked out well.

For example, about a year ago, attorney Marion saw a post on this very blog about a vacancy on the Tennessee Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims in Memphis. She immediately knew she wanted that position.

These days, Judge Marion could not be happier with that decision. She was sworn in on October 26, 2022.

Chief Judge Kenneth M. Switzer administered the judicial oath to Judge Shaterra Marion, while her Husband, Gerard Marion, held the Bible.

Judge Marion has lived in the Memphis area since her graduation from Howard University School of Law in 2011. She became a Memphian to live with her father and stepmother because the job market for new lawyers that year was, frankly, awful. Although she thought she’d return to the east coast, instead she took the Tennessee Bar.

Before and after taking the bar, Judge Marion volunteered parttime at a legal services clinic. One day an attorney approached her and asked her to work at his firm. He told her, among other reasons, he wanted to hire her because she was volunteering. Judge Marion had a good feeling about the opportunity and accepted the job.

Again, a life-changing decision, because that lawyer was Sean Hunt. He quickly became a mentor and taught her workers’ compensation law. Judge Marion recalls, “I fell into comp. And Sean taught me how to be a lawyer. He gave me my comp foundation and my career foundation.”

A few years later, she moved in-house to Liberty Mutual, thinking she would learn additional areas of the law. She did. But she also realized that she ultimately wanted to be in public service and preferably an adjudicator not an advocate.

Born at Fort Bragg, Judge Marion moved often when growing up as a military child but landed in Tallahassee, Florida, during her junior year of high school. She went to the University of Florida and immediately found her lifelong best friends.

College was also when she discovered her passion for volunteerism. Judge Marion’s dad had always taken her along when he volunteered; as a teenager she rang bells for the Salvation Army. She says, “Volunteering has always been a part of my life. But in college, I started doing it not because someone told me to, but because I wanted to.”

Judge Marion additionally remains a die-hard Gators football fan. In fact, she met her husband, Gerard Marion, in a Walmart parking lot in Tennessee; they spoke because he had a large Gators decal on his truck. It wasn’t love at first sight, but close.

After college, Marion applied to a few law schools including Howard, sight-unseen and not thinking she’d actually attend. Then she was accepted. An attorney friend urged her to visit.

That, too, changed her life. Simply viewing the portraits on the walls of Howard’s most distinguished alumni, including Justice Thurgood Marshall and countless notable civil rights attorneys, made her realize right away this was the place for her. She also immediately perceived that the atmosphere was not of cutthroat competition among the students but rather a shared pursuit for social justice.

Fast-forward three years, when Judge Marion graduated, her uncle gave her an essay she’d written in third grade. In it, nine-year-old Shaterra proclaimed she wanted to be a lawyer. Funny enough, she’d forgotten about that essay. So the gift was touching and a timely reminder that she’s always wanted to be in a serving profession.

Judge Marion has enjoyed her new role very much so far. “Everyone’s been very welcoming, both on the Court and at the Memphis office. They’ve been helpful and gracious. And the attorneys who’ve come before me—it’s the same. The trials have had some interesting nuances, and the lawyers in those cases did a great job presenting their cases.”

She’s found the settlement approvals rewarding, too: letting injured workers tell their stories, and presiding over a process that brings them validation and closure—even if, by law, it can’t make them entirely whole.

And she won’t brag about it—but we can. Just two of her opinions have been appealed so far. She was affirmed in the first; the second is pending.

When she’s not working, Judge Marion is mostly hanging out with the family: Gerard, their one-year-old son, Reed, and their blue heeler, Pete. Of course they do all the typical toddler stuff: the zoo, splash park, etc. But among her greatest joys is simply relaxing at home and playing with him.

In her rare moments of free time, Judge Marion sits on the Junior League of Memphis Board of Directors and volunteers for Make-a-Wish, which gives children with critical illnesses life-changing experiences. She plans elaborate “wish reveal” parties and helps coordinate “wish families” traveling to their destinations. Frequently they’ve never flown before and don’t know how to navigate an airport.

“It’s humbling and puts life in perspective very fast,” Judge Marion says. In a recent wish, she took a young child on the organ donor list to the mall on a shopping spree. “He was smiling constantly, and at every single store, he bought a present for his little brother.”

“It makes you grateful,” she continues, “And you rethink whatever was bothering you before. Like how ridiculous it is to be upset that it’s raining when I want to cut the grass. It’s just an indescribable experience.”

Welcome, Judge Marion.