Marisa Lee Combs, special counsel, joined Lewis Thomason in 2009 and is in the Nashville office. Ms. Combs concentrates her practice in professional liability defense of lawyers, architects, engineers, surveyors, appraisers, and other professionals. She has experience assisting professionals in disciplinary matters as well. Ms. Combs also regularly represents businesses with a variety of general service needs, including risk management and growth planning, business organization or succession questions, contracts with customers and vendors, and commercial leases. In addition, she has experience representing the interests of design professionals, contractors, and subcontractors in all aspects of the construction process, including contract negotiations, liens, collections, subpoena responses, and civil litigation. Ms. Combs has a diverse background and extensive courtroom experience, having started her practice on the county square in Robertson County handling a variety of litigation matters in a small firm environment.

David N. Garst is a shareholder in Lewis Thomason’s Nashville office. He is chair of the firm’s Construction Law Practice Group and serves on the firm’s Board of Directors. Mr. Garst practices principally in construction law, focusing on architects and engineers professional liability, construction defect litigation, construction contract law, professional discipline, and commercial litigation. For more than 25 years, Mr. Garst has represented general and specialty contractors, architects, engineers, surveyors, suppliers, and building owners on a variety of construction projects, both locally and regionally. He has substantial experience in the defense of design professionals, and has represented architects and engineers in hundreds of claims, lawsuits, arbitration matters, and disciplinary proceedings. He also has represented numerous general and specialty contractors on construction defect claims, payment disputes, liens, and disciplinary and licensing matters. Mr. Garst is active in many construction industry organizations. He writes and edits for the Tennessee Construction Law Journal and has participated as advocate or neutral in the arbitration of many disputes.

John Craig Howell is an associate in Lewis Thomason’s Nashville office, practicing in the areas of construction, employment law, general civil litigation, and workers’ compensation. He joined the firm in 2013. Mr. Howell graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law. While attending law school, he was a member of the James Clark McReynolds Trial Advocacy Team, class representative for the Student Bar Association, and symposium editor for the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender & Social Justice. Mr. Howell received certificates of academic excellence in Trial Practice and Criminal Law Seminar. He also worked as an intern in the Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs and in the Federal Defender Services office of Eastern Tennessee. Prior to law school, Mr. Howell earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Sewanee: The University of the South.

J. Wallace Irvin is an associate in Lewis Thomason’s Nashville office, where he focuses his practice on construction law with an emphasis on the representation of architects and engineers against professional liability allegations. Mr. Irvin also represents contractors in a wide variety of business matters, including contract negotiations, project administration, closeout, construction defect defense and payment disputes, including the assertion and enforcement of mechanics’ and materialmen’s liens and performance and payment bond claims. Additionally, Mr. Irvin advises contractors in administrative matters before the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors, Tennessee Occupational Health and Safety Administration (TOSHA) and Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT).

Jason M. Pannu is a Lewis Thomason shareholder based in the firm’s Nashville office. He is a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Mr. Pannu practices primarily in the areas of complex business and commercial litigation with an emphasis on the construction industry. He also practices in the areas of professional liability, toxic tort and environmental law and employment law disputes. As part of his construction law practice, Mr. Pannu advises architects, engineers, owners, contractors, subcontractors, and material suppliers in connection with large-scale projects, and he regularly appears in State and Federal Courts and in arbitrations on construction defect claims, professional negligence claims, breach of contract claims, and lien and bond claims. Mr. Pannu previously served on the Technology Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section. Mr. Pannu has a background in accounting and finance and has handled professional liability disputes in those areas. Mr. Pannu also advises clients regarding litigation avoidance and assessment. Mr. Pannu is fluent in Cantonese Chinese and French.