High court chooses three finalists for AG job

Shortlisted attorney general hopefuls will come in for second round of interviews

Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse

The Tennessee Supreme Court has narrowed to three the list of candidates to serve as the state's next attorney general. They are:

• Margaret Behm, 55, partner at the Nashville firm of Dodson Parker and Behm. Behm co-founded the first all-female law firm in Nashville in 1980. She holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
• Bob Cooper, 49, Governor Phil Bredesen's chief legal counsel. Cooper is a former partner at the Nashville law firm of Bass, Berry & Sims. He is a graduate of Yale University Law School. His father, Robert E. Cooper, served as a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court from 1974 to 1990.
• Joseph E. "Jef" Feibelman, a 62-year-old partner with the Memphis firm of Burch, Porter & Johnson PLLC. Feibelman is also a Yale Law graduate and has served on the Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission.

The court will re-interview these candidates before choosing a successor to AG Paul Summers, who left the post last month.