Executive Director
DarKenya W. Waller joined the Legal Aid Society in 2008. She became the Managing Attorney of its Nashville office in 2010 and the Executive Director in 2018. Her legal practice is focused primarily on family law. She is a graduate of the University of Mississippi - School of Law and earned a Master of Business Administration from Belhaven University. Mrs. Waller is a 2011 member of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Leadership Law Program for outstanding young lawyers. She was appointed to the Indigent Representation Taskforce by the Tennessee Supreme Court and is a fellow of the Nashville Bar Foundation. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Nashville Bar Association, the YWCA of Nashville, the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the Nashville Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) where she is Board Chair. She has been recognized as a 2016 Woman of Influence and 2018 Best of the Bar by the Nashville Business Journal, as a 2016 Cable Athena Award Nominee and as the 2015 Advocate of the Year by the NCADV. Mrs. Waller has held leadership positions with the Lawyers Association for Women – Marion Griffith Chapter and the Nashville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She has served on the Tennessee State Domestic Violence Coordinating Council and as Chair of the Family Law Task Force of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services. She is a frequent speaker across the state on the topic of Domestic Violence training judges, clerks, commissioners and the public on the impact of domestic violence. She is most proud of her work initiating the Civil-Legal Advocate Program which provides free legal representation to victims of Domestic Violence on the Order of Protection dockets in Davidson County, TN.