{"county":"shelby","description":"","district":"shelby","districtgroup":"county","id":80,"key":"general_sessions_civil_court_judge_div_3","lastchangeby":null,"name":"Danielle Mitchell Sims ","next_election":"2022-11-08","notes":"90","officegroup":"general_sessions_civil_court","partisan":0,"party":"","qualities":"- General-Sessions civil-court judge: hears civil claims under the statutory cap (currently $25,000), landlord-tenant cases, and small claims \u2014 high volume, often pro se litigants.\n- Judicial temperament: the willingness to listen, deliberate, and apply the law dispassionately to people whose lives are deeply affected by the outcome.\n- Impartiality and ethics under the Tennessee Rules of Judicial Conduct, including disqualification when conflicts arise.\n- Working knowledge of the substantive and procedural law applied in the assigned court (cited per court below) and the published precedent that controls.\n- Docket management \u2014 moving cases efficiently while honoring due process and the time pressures that fall on litigants and witnesses.\n- Clear written and oral explanation of rulings, so the parties and the public can follow the reasoning.","quantity":1,"source":null,"state":"TN","term_end":"2030-09-01","term_start":"2022-09-01","term_years":8,"terms":[{"current":1,"description":"","electiondate":"2022-08-04","name":"Danielle Mitchell Sims ","person":{"biography":"The Honorable Danielle Mitchell Sims is the Judge of Shelby County General Sessions Court Division III. As one of six civil judges, Judge Mitchell Sims presides over cases involving matters less than $25,000 in the most voluminous court in the state of Tennessee.\n\nAs a fourth-generation Memphian, Danielle has deep roots here. She graduated from Germantown High School and graduated summa cum laude from Howard University in Washington, DC. Judge Mitchell Sims earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center where she participated in the Domestic Violence Law Clinic.\n\nJudge Mitchell Sims has a wide variety of experience in government and the legal field. While in DC, she worked as a Legislative Correspondent in the House of Representatives and interned with the Senate Judiciary Committee during law school. After graduation and passing the bar, she returned to Memphis where she was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Bernice B. Donald who was then a United States District Court Judge.\n\nAfter her clerkship, Judge Mitchell Sims entered private practice. As a solo practitioner, she represented clients in all courts in Shelby County. Her practice included civil litigation, criminal defense, juvenile and family law. She was an Assistant General Counsel for the State of Tennessee Department of Children\u2019s Services for a short time before the Shelby County Commission appointed her as a Judicial Commissioner for the Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court. In this role, Judge Mitchell Sims served as a Magistrate to the General Sessions Criminal Courts signing affidavits of complaints, setting bonds, hearing Orders of Protections and sitting for judges, among other duties.\n\nJudge Mitchell Sims has served as the Administrator of Mt. Moriah-East Baptist Church for more than ten years. As Administrator, she supports the pastor and facilitates ministry activities. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and is active with the Shelby County Alumnae Chapter.\n\nJudge Mitchell Sims is committed to fairness and justice and is passionate about serving the citizens of Shelby County. ","firstname":"Danielle","lastname":"Sims","middlename":"Mitchell","token":"k7AvB7Gpxb"},"term_end":"2030-09-01","term_start":"2022-09-01"}],"title":"General Sessions Civil Court Judge Div 3","type":"judicial","url":null,"whenchanged":"2026-04-25 19:49:19"}