In her role as Associate General Counsel, Elizabeth Taylor provides practical, knowledgeable, and comprehensive legal counsel to the university on a wide range of student affairs and employment matters, particularly surrounding nondiscrimination, accommodations, civil rights, student accountability, and protection of minors. She is a member of and collaborates with several university work groups as a legal advisor. As a member of the “People Team,” Elizabeth’s expertise has been instrumental in providing legal guidance to the university through sensitive, novel, and complicated issues concerning faculty, staff, and students.
Elizabeth received her Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude in Political Science, with departmental honors, from Fisk University, where she was inducted into the Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis, where she served on the Moot Court Board, Tennessee Journal of Practice and Procedure, and as 1L Rep and later Vice President of the Black Law Student’s Association. She also has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Global Management from the University of Phoenix.
Prior to joining the Office of the General Counsel, Elizabeth represented K-12 educational agencies at the state and local levels. She has served as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Murfreesboro representing the Murfreesboro City School District, as General Counsel of the Tennessee State Board of Education, and as Staff Attorney and Director of the Office of Civil Rights for the Tennessee Department of Education. Before transitioning into education law, Elizabeth represented the State of Tennessee as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights and Claims Division. Additionally, immediately after law school, Elizabeth was a Law Clerk for the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Western Section.
Elizabeth is a member of Tennessee Bar Association and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Elizabeth is admitted to practice law in Tennessee.
In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys crafting, reading, cooking, baking, and spending time with her two sons.
Assistant Contact: Crystal Nguyen-Fuss, crystal.nguyen-fuss@Vanderbilt.Edu, (615) 343-7032