THE HON. SHELLEY D. RUCKER, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee, has been on the bench since 2010. Judge Rucker practiced bankruptcy law with the firm of Miller & Martin PLLC for twenty- seven years prior to taking the bench.  She previously served as chairperson of the firm’s Commercial Department and practice group leader of the Bankruptcy- Creditor Rights Group.  She was a board member and President of the Mid-South Commercial Law Institute. She has participated on the Chapter 7 Update Panel for MCLI for the past seven years.  She is a frequent lecturer about bankruptcy and was the 2019 winner of the Golden Gnome Award from the Brock-Cooper Chapter of the American Inns of Court for her presentation on Bankruptcy Basics. She is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. She served as the editor-in-chief of the Conference News (2018), the newsletter for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and was a member of its editorial board from 2010 to 2019.

She received her undergraduate degree in English and Economics from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her law degree from the University of Georgia, where she was a member of the National Moot Court Team.