Disclaimer
Plain English, because the point of this page is that you actually understand it.
Who Is Responsible for This Website
Tennessee Rule of Professional Conduct 7.2(d) requires that an advertisement include the name and office address of at least one lawyer or law firm taking responsibility for it. For this website that is:
Austin Tomlinson
Patriot Law, The Law Office of Austin Tomlinson
1005 17th Ave S, Ste 900
Nashville, TN 37212
(615) 669-8312
Four Things to Understand Before You Rely on Anything Here
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This Is Not Legal Advice
Everything on this site is general information about Tennessee law. It is not advice about your case. Your facts, your record and your court change the answer, sometimes completely.
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Reading This Does Not Make Austin Your Lawyer
No attorney-client relationship is created by visiting this site, reading a page, calling, emailing or sending the contact form. It begins only when you and Austin both agree in writing that he represents you.
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Do Not Send Case Details Yet
Information sent before Austin has agreed to represent you may not be protected as confidential. Keep the contact form short and save the specifics for a phone call.
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Past Results Guarantee Nothing
Any outcome described on this site was reached on its own facts. Nothing here should create an expectation that a similar case will end the same way. Most will not.
Accuracy and Currency
The statutes, offense classes and penalties described on this site were checked against the current Tennessee Code at the time each page was written. Each practice page carries a last updated date. Tennessee law changes, sometimes substantially, and this site may not reflect a change made after that date.
That is not a hypothetical. Tennessee repealed and relocated its burglary statutes in 2021, amended its child rape statutes in 2024, more than doubled its dangerous felony list in 2025, and reorganized its expungement chapter the same year. Published legal information goes stale faster than most people assume.
Do not act on anything here without talking to a lawyer. If a page conflicts with something you are told in your own case by your own attorney, your attorney is the one with your file.
Jurisdiction and Licensing
Austin Tomlinson is licensed to practice law in the State of Tennessee. This site is directed at people with Tennessee legal matters and describes Tennessee law. Nothing here is an offer to practice law in any state where he is not admitted.
If your case is outside Tennessee, call anyway. Austin will tell you honestly whether he can help, and where to look if he cannot.
Links, Reviews and Third Parties
Pages on this site link to the Tennessee Code on third-party legal research sites so you can read the statute yourself. Those sites are not Patriot Law's. Patriot Law does not control their content, accuracy or availability, and a link is not an endorsement.
Any client reviews shown on this site are the words of the people who wrote them. They describe one person's experience with one matter and are not a promise about yours.
Testimonials and endorsements are not compensated. Where a review has been shortened for space, it has not been altered in substance.
Ask Rather Than Guess
If something on this site left you unsure where you stand, that is what the first call is for. It costs nothing and you are not obligated to hire anyone.