Penny Harrington is a retired Metropolitan General Sessions Court Judge. Prior to election to the bench, she was a partner at Thompson and Bussart, Attorneys at Law; served as General Counsel for the Department of Conservation, State of Tennessee; acted as Chief Legal Officer and Legislative liaison; served as Legal Counsel to State Historical Commission and the Tennessee Oil and Gas Board; was Legislative Assistant and Press Secretary to Lieutenant Governor John S. Wilder; served as Administrative Aide to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Ned R. McWherter; was the Editor of The Tennessee Report, a statewide newsletter on Tennessee government, politics and economy; and taught French and English in Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Schools. Harrington holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Vanderbilt University School of Law and a B.S. from Middle Tennessee State University, where she was a Foundation Scholar. Harrington is a native of Jackson, Tennessee, and is married to Vanderbilt Professor Michael P. Hodges.
In addition to Historic Nashville, Harrington is a member of: Alliance Francaise; Tennessee Bar Association; Tennessee Bar Association Judiciary Committee.
Nashville Bar Association ; Nashville Bar Association Ethics & Professionalism Committee. Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity; National Association of Women Judges; Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women; Former Chair of Tennessee Women’s Political Caucus; founding member of CABLE; Tennessee Environmental Council; Board of Trust of the Middle Tennessee State University Foundation; Mental Health-Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee; Nashville Alliance For The Mentally Ill; Member of AIDS Advisory Council and AIDS Partnership in Nashville, Tennessee;
Board of the Visual Arts Alliance; American Association of University Women; Catholic Business Women; Chair, Special Court Judges Committee; National Conference of Special Court Judges; American Bar Association; Nature Conservancy. Chair; Literacy in the Courts; National Conference of Special Court Judges; Davidson County Election Commission; House of Delegates, Tennessee Bar Association;
Rules Committee, Democratic National Convention; Task Force on Judicial Reform, Tennessee General Assembly; “Who’s Who in American Law”, 1985 to present.
