Ebelhar finds rewards in move from classroom

Law Talk profile for The Memphis Daily News

June 20, 2013

Jay Ebelhar was recently elected shareholder of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC.

The Owensboro, Ky., native attended Bellarmine University in Louisville where he studied English and secondary education. He went on to teach high school English, public speaking and journalism. Though he enjoyed his time in front of the classroom, Ebelhar said, “I just didn’t love it, I couldn’t see myself doing it for the rest of my career.”

Though he admits he had never even considered the legal profession as an option, it was this career that would find him back in the classroom, but on the other side of the lectern. He went about his search for a career in a methodical way, studying what it was he thought were his strengths and what he would enjoy in a job – writing, research, public speaking – and all roads led to one point.

“The legal profession just seemed to be tailor-made for it,” he said.

His wife, Christy, a registered nurse, is from Memphis and he’d always enjoyed visits here, so he applied to the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis.

“I really enjoyed it,” he says of his time as a later-in-life student. “It wasn’t as intimidating as it might have been if I’d come straight through from undergrad.”

He looked at the endeavor as a job itself and planned on staying all day whether he had a full load of classes or not, spending the downtime studying and doing research . . . (read more)