[co-author: Stephanie Kozol]

On August 10, the Tennessee Supreme Court announced that Jonathan Skrmetti, Governor Bill Lee’s top legal counsel, will become the state’s new attorney general on September 1.

Tennessee is unique, as it is the only state where the state Supreme Court appoints the attorney general for an eight-year term. Skrmetti, former chief deputy attorney general of Tennessee, will replace current Attorney General Herbert Slatery III who was appointed in 2014. In his application for attorney general, Skrmetti stated that he plans on following in Attorney General Slatery’s footsteps as a “national leader in the consumer protection community.”

Previously, Skrmetti served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. attorney’s office in West Tennessee from 2011 to 2014. His prior work experience also includes being an honors program trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, as well as a private practice attorney for a period of time. Skrmetti also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis where he taught cyberlaw.

Skrmetti received undergraduate degrees from both University of Oxford and George Washington University and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School.