Karla C. Miller

Karla C. Miller is the founding partner of Miller Upshaw Family Law, PLLC, a three-lawyer firm including partner Rachel S. Upshaw and associate Taylor L. Rippe. Karla has devoted her entire career to the practice of family law in Tennessee. She has a passion for the law and loves both litigation and appellate work. Originally from Dothan, Alabama, Karla moved to Nashville in 1986 and enrolled in the Nashville School of Law a few years later. While in her final year, she clerked for the Honorable Steve Daniel, a Circuit Judge in the 16^th Judicial District comprising Rutherford and Cannon Counties. Upon graduation in 1996, she opened her own firm and has been assisting families in Tennessee ever since. She became a Rule 31 Listed Family mediator in 2009. That same year, Karla was named among the “Best of the Bar” by the Nashville Business Journal.  She has also been named a Mid-South Super Lawyer as a top-rated family lawyer for the last six years, 2019-2024.

In an effort to help military families in Tennessee spearheaded by the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, Karla became a volunteer ombudsman with the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Committee (ESGR) of the US Department of Defense, serving as a resource for deployed service members and their employers in understanding their rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA). In 2008, Karla was awarded National Ombudsman of the Year by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Committee of the U.S. Department of Defense. Karla was also appointed by then Governor Phil Bredesen to be a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, and she served in that capacity from 2006-2014. Karla is an active member of the American Bar Association's Family Law Section, and she is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

In her spare time, Karla loves getting out on Center Hill Lake on her stand-up paddleboard or kayak and hiking in Percy Warner Park with her husband, Phillip Miller, and their dogter, Stella, a beautiful and spunky labradoodle who also has a spot as a Customer Service Representative at Miller Upshaw Family Law, PLLC. https://www.nashvillefamilylaw.com/attorneys/stella-miller/