Eric Osborne

An accomplished attorney, Eric sees litigation as an opportunity – an opportunity to protect his clients’ business and personal interests, an opportunity to advance critical principles of justice and fairness, and an opportunity to help people in times of crisis and need. Eric focuses his practice on contract disputes, white-collar criminal defense, antitrust matters, and civil rights cases. His advocacy is grounded in his creativity, empathy, and hands-on experience, having tried many cases before a jury and briefed multiple matters before the United States Supreme Court.

In his commercial litigation practice, Eric regularly handles complex cases involving contract construction and a wide range of other business disputes. Reflective of his sophistication in these matters, Eric currently serves as a Professor of Contracts at the Nashville School of Law. Much of Eric’s practice has focused on appellate and trial-level briefing of complex issues in federal and state courts, and his appellate work has earned him recognition by his peers as a “Super Lawyers” Rising Star—Appellate for the past six years.

Eric brings both prosecutorial and defense-side experience to his representation in white-collar criminal matters, including those involving the False Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, and the Office of Foreign Asset Control. Eric served as a volunteer prosecutor for six months, during which time he tried over a dozen jury trials from voir dire to verdict. But now Eric works on the defense side, representing clients who face white-collar criminal issues, including currently as a court-appointed public defender assisting in the defense of rare criminal prosecution under the Anti-Kickback Statute.

In antitrust matters, Eric focuses his talents on major national cases, including antitrust actions against the credit card and packaged seafood industries and the firm’s current effort against certain national healthcare insurers.

Since 2019, Eric has litigated three civil rights and election disputes in Tennessee and has developed a reputation for taking on controversial cases across the political spectrum, including issues such as legislative due process rights, ballot access and open meetings, and solitary confinement. Eric’s commitment to the community also manifests in his extensive work for non-profit clients, his community engagement, and his pro bono representation. For example, in 2016, Eric helped draft an open letter to Secretary of State John Kerry that helped convince the State Department to declare that ISIS was committing genocide against the Christians in Iraq and Syria. And Eric serves on the Legal Services Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council, a national group of young leaders working to increase public awareness of and support for equal access to justice for low-income Americans.

A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and lifelong Presbyterian, Eric has a robust practice serving the legal needs of churches and not-for-profit organizations. He also volunteers his time and efforts on behalf of several religious and charitable endeavors, serving on the board of the Presbyterian Foundation—the national foundation that supports the mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—and, until recently, serving on the board of the Medical Benevolence Foundation, which provides medical care and medical training in some of the poorest countries in the world. Locally, Eric serves on the board of the Nashville Wine Auction and is a deacon, and serves on the Endowment Committee at First Presbyterian Church.

Eric is married to Eleanor, a physician. Eric and Eleanor are both native Tennesseans with family ties that go back over a century in the state.