Dana Schmidt

Dana Schmidt is a 2002 graduate of Regent University School of Law. She has practiced law for over 20 years. She began her career as a front-line litigation attorney at the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) in 2003. When she left DCS in 2011, she was serving as a supervising attorney and represented DCS in judicial and administrative hearings cross the state. From 2011 to 2013, she served as IV-D attorney and project manager for the 20th Judicial District of Tennessee. She was directly responsible for the case management of approximately 45,000 child support cases. Upon completion of the IV-D contract, she was recruited by Judge Sheila Calloway to manage the Metro-Davidson County Juvenile Court Parentage Division. While serving as program manager for the division from 2015 to 2022, she expanded the division’s parental assistance program which became known as the Parental Assistance Court (PAC) program. A main component of the program was mediation services for unmarried and non-custodial parents. Ms. Schmidt worked to coordinate these services for child support, visitation and custody cases filed with the Court. In 2022, Ms. Schmidt was appointed as the program manager for mediation and grants by the Tennessee Supreme Court. She currently manages the Court’s Rule 31 listed mediator program as well as multiple grants that provide funding for mediation services across the state of Tennessee. She is married to Joseph Schmidt, she has three sons and one wonderful mini-schnauzer named Charles (Charlie) Baxter. She loves to travel, listen to true crime podcasts and cheer on the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team.