Ashley Waters, Owner/Managing Attorney

Ashley has been practicing law for over 10 years. What most people don’t know is that law is Ashley’s second career. Ashley graduated from MTSU in 2006 with her bachelor’s degree and then from Ole Miss in 2007 with her MBA. Ashley immediately went to work for a large engineering firm—Jacob’s Engineering—located in Tullahoma, Tennessee, writing proposals for large government contracts all over the US. Ashley was promoted and moved to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, in 2008, where she continued to manage the proposal writing process for the local group there. In 2009, Ashley moved to Cookeville, Tennessee, where she began a career in project management at Flexial Corporation. At Flexial, Ashley managed multi-million dollar design and manufacturing projects for NASA.

Soon after moving to Cookeville, Ashley decided to pursue a career in law. She applied and was accepted to Nashville School of Law (NSL) and began attending in January 2010. With the support of her new husband, Heath, she worked full-time during the day while attending law school in Nashville 2-3 nights per week.

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In 2011, Ashley left Flexial to pursue a job in the legal profession. For more than a year, Ashley immersed herself in the legal field, working for a local attorney and volunteering with the local Public Defender’s Office and a local Judge. In 2012, Ashley was fortunate to begin working with Attorney Joy Buck Gothard. Ashley started out in Joy’s office filing and scanning, and eventually became a partner with Joy in the firm Gothard Waters after she graduated from NSL in 2013. Joy became Ashley’s mentor, and Ashley is grateful for everything she has learned from Joy.

After several years with Joy, Ashley decided she wanted to open her own practice, and in October 2019, the firm Waters Law was born. Ashley’s vision for Waters Law is to provide quality estate planning and administration services to her clients in a modern firm that leverages technology to improve efficiency and lower costs (which can be passed on to the client!). Ashley knows that the thought of planning for one’s death is daunting and stressful, and Ashley’s goal is to streamline the process and make it as easy and comfortable for the client as possible.

Ashley is from Tullahoma, Tennessee (by way of Arcadia, Missouri), but now considers herself a Cookeville local. Ashley’s husband, Heath, is a Director of Business Development for J&S Construction, Inc. (and, as a true entrepreneur, sells commercial office furniture on the side). Ashley and Heath have two children, Nora (11) and Mason (9), two rowdy dogs, Boone and Roxy, and two cats, Snowflake and Simba. Ashley is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Cookeville. Ashley’s hobbies include traveling, camping, fitness, reading/listening to “self-help” books/podcasts, and most of all, family time.

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Professional Affiliations:

  • Member, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA)

  • Member, American Bar Association (ABA), 2012 – Present

  • Member, Tennessee Bar Association (TBA), 2012 – Present

  • Member, Putnam County Bar Association, 2016 – Present

  • President, Putnam County Bar Association, 2018 – 2019

  • President-Elect, Putnam County Bar Association, 2017 – 2018

  • Secretary, Putnam County Bar Association, 2016 – 2017

  • Member, Upper Cumberland Young Lawyers Association, 2012 – Present

  • Member, Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women, 2016 – Present

Volunteer Work:

Awards:

  • 2016, 10 Best for Client Satisfaction, American Institute of Legal Counsel, Estate Planning Division

  • 2018, Top 40 Under 40, American Academy of Attorneys