TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Dec 5, 2016

Denise Faili, who previously served in the Knox County Public Defender’s Office, died Nov. 26 in Texas. She was 33. Faili had moved to Alpine, Texas, earlier this year to be closer to her mother and work for the federal public defender’s office. Days after Thanksgiving, Faili and her mother were driving from Corpus Christi to Austin when a car crossed the center line. The head-on collision killed Faili, her mother and the other driver. Faili earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and clerked for the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals before joining the public defender's office. Donations in her memory can be made to Gideon’s Promise, a training and advocacy organization for public defenders. Read a moving tribute to Faili from a former coworker in Alpine.