§ VII — About
Filed under Rule 10, Tn. Sup. Ct. R. 9 — biographical record
Thirty-two years in Tennessee law. Eight years prosecuting. Twelve years in private practice. Nine on the bench. Two grown sons, one wife, and a forty-year fly-fishing habit.
[ Knox County Circuit · Chambers · 2025 ]
[ Statement on judicial register ]
"I don't run on what I think about hot-button cases. I run on the record. Eighteen hundred forty-seven opinions. Each one open for anyone to read. Each one written for the litigant first and the casebook second. That's the job."
— Hon. Daniel R. Shoemaker · Filing statement · March 12, 2026
§ VIII — Record, in sections
01
Origin
Born in Blount County in 1969, the second of four. Father a salesman for a Knoxville hardware distributor; mother a public-school librarian. Public school through twelfth grade. First in his family to finish a four-year degree.
02
Education
B.A. in History, UT Knoxville, 1991. J.D., UT College of Law, 1994 — Order of the Coif, articles editor, Tennessee Law Review. One-year clerkship for the Hon. Houston Goddard, Tennessee Court of Appeals, 1994–1995.
03
Prosecutor
1995–2003. Tried 412 jury cases — violent crime, property, white collar. Promoted to lead the Special Crimes Unit in 2000. Recipient of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference outstanding-prosecutor award, 2002.
04
Private practice
Twelve years (2003–2015). Insurance defense, business litigation, appellate work. Argued thirty-one matters before the Tennessee Court of Appeals and twice before the Tennessee Supreme Court. Tennessee Bar Association civility award, 2012.
05
Bench
Elected 2016, re-elected unopposed 2024. Authored 1,847 written opinions across general civil, family, and criminal matters. Of 184 appealed, zero reversed for legal error. Designated by the Tennessee Supreme Court for special appointments to three multi-jurisdiction commercial cases.
06
Family · faith · firsts
Married 28 years to Sarah Beth Shoemaker, RN at UT Medical Center's pediatric oncology unit. Two grown sons: Jack, a Marine Corps captain stationed at Camp Lejeune; Will, a third-year law student at Vanderbilt. Member of First Presbyterian Knoxville. Volunteers monthly at the East Tennessee Children's Hospital legal-aid clinic. Lifelong fly fisherman — South Holston, Hiwassee, Watauga.
§ IX — Stated policy
These are not campaign tactics — they are commitments to the canons of judicial conduct. They apply on the campaign trail and on the bench, equally and without exception.