Who is Coalition Attorney?
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Who is Coalition Attorney?
Scott – McCreary Look at Nashville’s Lisa Helton
By Shane Gilreath
At Wednesday’s inaugural meeting of the Scott – McCreary Environmental Coalition (SMEC), the parties representing their respective governments – Winfield, Oneida, Huntsville, and Scott and McCreary Counties – in the potential combatance of the proposed Winfield landfill chose to enter into a retainer with Nashville-based attorney Lisa Helton. Oneida Mayor Lori Phillips-Jones, herself a lawyer, had previously spoken with Helton, who works with Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison in Nashville. Helton is no stranger to landfill litigation. Recognized as the 2025 “Lawyer of the Year” in Nashville for Trust and Estate Litigation and as the 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” in Nashville for both Trust and Estate Litigation and Tax Litigation and Controversy, Helton played a pivotal role in representing the City of Murfreesboro in its fight to block a 99-acre expansion of the Middle Point Landfill, already a 207-acre site under BFI Waste Systems of Tennessee. BFI argued that a failure to expand would force closure after the Central Tennessee Regional Solid Waste Planning Board’s decision to deny the expansion.
The proposed expansion, which operators claimed was essential to avoid a solid waste crisis affecting a third of Tennessee counties, was argued by Helton and city officials to be neither necessary nor cost effective. Helton pointed to alternative infrastructure plans Murfreesboro has been developing, including a planned waste transfer facility to manage trash without relying on further landfill capacity.
The court ultimately sided with the Regional Board, denying the expansion appeal on several environmental grounds, which Helton had argued in Chancery Court, contesting that the board consider things like widespread odor complaints and the facility’s acceptance of toxic waste, which had been deemed both serious environmental and public health threats in both Murfreesboro and surrounding communities. Chancellor Perkins ruled that odor complaints and exposure of aluminum waste fell within the board’s jurisdiction to consider, reinforcing Helton’s arguments that the expansion was not environmentally acceptable or necessary.
Helton’s successful advocacy in the Middle Point case gained the attention of the Scott-McCreary Environmental Coalition, the multi-jurisdiction coalition comprising Scott and McCreary Counties and the municipalities of Huntsville, Oneida, and Winfield. While SMEC voted to retain the services of Helton last week, splitting the costs five ways, that hire has not officially been announced. Helton’s work, however, demonstrates the attorney’s growing reputation in regional environmental litigation, particularly in cases where communities challenge landfill operations on grounds of odor, toxic pollution, and regional waste planning.
