Purtell, Daniel B.

Robert E. Pryor, Sr., is a native Tennessean born April 2, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Mr. Pryor was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1969.  He is a graduate of The University of Tennessee (B.S.) and The University of Tennessee College of Law (J.D., 1969).  He is a member of the Knoxville, Tennessee, and American Bar Associations; the American Association of Justice; the Tennessee Association for Justice; American Board of Trial Advocates (Advocate); Hamilton Burnett American Inn of Court (Master of the Bench Emeritus); and the Society of Law and Medicine. 

Mr. Pryor is a founding partner of the firm and has practiced as a trial litigator in civil matters since his admission to the bar in 1969.  Because of his regional and national reputation as a trial attorney, Mr. Pryor has represented clients in the courts of many other states.  Because he believes that the mark of a true professional is the willingness to give back to the profession by teaching others, he has been an Instructor in Law and an Adjunct Professor of Law most of his professional career.  He served as a lecturer on law in the College of Business of The University of Tennessee from 1971 to 1974 and has served since 1978 as an Adjunct Professor of Law and lecturer at The University of Tennessee College of Law.  He has served as a faculty member of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the Case Western School of Law Litigation Forum, and the Tennessee College of Advocacy.  Mr. Pryor is a frequent presenter and lecturer on trial practice topics on educational programs for lawyers sponsored by the American Trial Lawyers Association, the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the Knoxville Bar Association, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the National Practice Institute, the Tennessee Young Lawyers Conference, the Federal Practice Institute, the Georgia Bar Association, and the National Business Institute.

In 1977, Mr. Pryor served as President of the Tennessee Young Lawyers Conference and was a member of the Board of Governors of the Tennessee Bar Association from1977-78.  He has served as an officer of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and as a member of its Board of Governors intermittently since 1974.  He was elected to the Tennessee Appellate Court Nominating Commission and served from 1991-94 and has been a member of The University of Tennessee College of Law Advisory Board and Dean's Circle since 1995. 

Mr. Pryor has vast experience in representing injured people in various types of litigation and much of his practice has been devoted to the representation of the catastrophically injured client. He is married to the former Norma Lee Hammer, and they have three children, Robert E. Pryor, Jr. (a partner with the firm), John P. Pryor, and Amy Pryor of Knoxville.   They have five grandchildren.