The Hon. Robert D. Philyaw is a judge for the Hamilton County Juvenile Court in Tennessee. He was elected to the bench by the Hamilton County Commission on May 1, 2013.
Philyaw earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management (1995) and an M.B.A. in marketing and finance (1997) from Christian Brothers University. He then completed a J.D. at the University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, in 2001. As a law student, he clerked at Neely Green Fargarson Brooke & Summers in Memphis, and he served as editor of the Tennessee Journal of Practice & Procedure.
After graduating from law school, Philyaw entered into private practice in Chattanooga. He started as an associate at Shumacker & Thompson (later renamed Shumacker Witt Gaither & Whitaker). Then, in 2002, he opened his own private practice as a trial attorney, supplementing his practice with service as a judge for the Graysville Municipal Court.
His memberships have included the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association, the Chattanooga Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the Chattanooga Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association. He has also been involved with the Board of the Mountain Education Foundation, and he has served on the Tennessee Commission for Children and Youth.
He is a recipient of the Chief Justice William M. Barker Equal Access to Justice Award from Legal Aid of East Tennessee (2015) and the McCain-Abernathy Memorial Award from the Tennessee Council of Juvenile and Family Law Judges (2019).
Philyaw and his wife, Dr. Kathy C. Philyaw, reside in Signal Mountain. The couple has two children, one of which is a police officer with the Chattanooga Police Department. The family attends Point CHurch at Signal Mountain. Before enrolling at Christian Brothers University, Philyaw worked as a wholesale grocery buyer at Malone & Hyde as well as a regional manager for Fort Howard.