Paul Bruno recently joined the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) as a Capital Case Attorney.
“I’m just incredibly grateful for the opportunity,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it since day one. It is fascinating. It is challenging. There’s a lot of variety in it. There are so many different issues that come up.”
As an AOC Capital Case Attorney, Bruno advises and consults with trial judges on capital cases and complex criminal matters.
“My short-term goal is to help the trial court judges make the legally correct decisions in order to avoid reversible error in the process,” he said. “That’s what I consider my primary assignment, to assist these judges in making legally correct decisions regarding these capital cases.”
Bruno is currently working on case assignments, which includes determining case locations, the judges assigned to each case, and case court dates.
“I’ve traveled to Madison County, Shelby County, Hamilton County, Henderson County, Blount County and Knox County to meet all of my judges, to get copies of the files, to learn what’s going on with each case, and now I’m starting what I call my deep dive into the cases,” he said. “I’m starting to digest the pleadings and begin doing substantive work on the cases themselves.”
As a student at the University of Memphis, Bruno studied finance. He stayed to complete his JDMBA, a law degree and Master of Business Administration, in four years. Bruno was searching for a job in finance after graduation when someone suggested he start his law practice by taking court appointments. He took that advice and it launched his career as a criminal defense lawyer in 1996.
“I started out really thinking I would be more in the financial world or, at best, some kind of business law or corporate law, he said. Once I got experience in criminal defense, I thought it was the most interesting thing and it still is to this day, almost 30 years later.”
Capital case work followed in 2002.
“I maintained a capital practice all the way up until I took this job,” he said. “I have many years of state criminal defense experience, federal criminal defense experience and capital case defense experience. I have tried four death penalty cases. I’ve handled many more than that, but that’s the actual number of trials I’ve been in.”
A few years ago, Bruno decided he was ready for a change.
“I began thinking about what I wanted to do next,” he said. “I got an opportunity to go to work at the public defender’s office in Maury County, so in November of 2024, just this past year, I became an assistant public defender in Maury County. While I was there, I became aware of this opportunity, and this job is an excellent fit for me given my interest and my experience. I’ve gone to numerous training courses around the country. I have presented at several seminars, including capital seminars. I’ve studied the subject matter. I’ve represented clients at the trial level, the post-conviction level, the habeas level in capital cases, and it’s where my primary interest lies in terms of criminal defense. This is an opportunity to work in this field again and just do it from a different perspective.”
