Lyon became the fourth Dean of the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law ("LMU Law") in July 2020. Prior to that, Lyon served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at LMU Law for five years. In that role, Lyon oversaw LMU Law's program of legal education and coordinated its successful efforts to obtain full approval from the American Bar Association.
Lyon earned a B.A. from the College of William and Mary, an M.P.A. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and his J.D. cum laude from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. Prior to law school, Lyon worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., where he worked with states and private research organizations to evaluate the effects of the 1996 welfare reform law. After law school, Lyon worked as a commercial litigation associate at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago. His practice focused on securities litigation, mergers and acquisitions litigation, and energy regulatory work. In 2008, Lyon moved to East Tennessee to take a position as the senior law clerk for Justice Gary R. Wade of the Tennessee Supreme Court. He began teaching at LMU Law when the school first opened in fall 2009, serving as an adjunct professor for two years before joining the full-time faculty in 2011.
Lyon's areas of teaching include Civil Procedure, Contracts and Sales, Business Organizations, Payment Systems. He also has taught the law school's Externship course. His scholarship has been published in numerous law reviews, but he also believes strongly in writing and presenting on issues of interest to the state and local bar. Lyon was Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association's Business Law Section from 2017-19 and a member of the TBA's Leadership Law Class of 2017. He is also a member of the Publications Committee of the Knoxville Bar Association and coordinates the feature article in KBA's monthly publication, DICTA. The KBA recognized Lyon's contributions by awarding him its prestigious DICTA Award in 2017. Lyon is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Knoxville Bar Foundation.
Lyon, his wife, Angie, and their two children and two dogs live in Knoxville's Sequoyah Hills neighborhood. Lyon and his family are very active in their church, First Baptist Church of Knoxville, where he serves as a Deacon and Sunday School teacher.
