Griffin, Clift, Everton & Maschmeyer, PLLC

What the firm handles

Griffin, Clift, Everton & Maschmeyer, PLLC works out of Memphis and puts much of its practice into real estate. It handles residential, commercial and development transactions, including the drafting and negotiation of contracts and leases. Its lawyers serve clients in Tennessee and Mississippi.

The work does not stop at property. The firm drafts contracts, sets up business entities, and prepares wills. It also handles probate and estate planning. That mix lets a single office cover a purchase, a business formed around it, and the estate documents that follow later.

Closings, title work and lending

A large share of the day to day here runs through closings. The firm is approved to close transactions for most local banks and mortgage companies. It offers title search and examination, and it places title insurance through several title companies covering the Memphis area and west Tennessee.

Its real estate clients include buyers, sellers, borrowers, lenders, contractors and developers. The firm also represents builders, developers and local lending institutions. The property work covers residential purchases and refinances, construction loans, development projects and commercial deals.

How the team is built

The roster mixes members and associate attorneys. Several of them have practiced real estate law for more than 40 years, which gives the group a long bench in that area. In my opinion, that depth is the firm's clearest strength.

The real estate members

William N. Griffin, Jr. is a member and a Memphis native. He earned a B.A. from the University of Tennessee in 1992 and a J.D. from the Nashville School of Law in 1997. He has practiced transactional real estate law for 29 years and belongs to the Memphis Bar Association and its real estate section.

Glenn D. Everton is a member whose work centers on commercial and residential real estate and business law. He has practiced for more than 40 years. He earned his law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law in 1981 and his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in 1978. He is a past chair of the Real Estate and Environmental Law Section.

Shelley E. Rothman-Branning is a member who first worked in real estate in 1977 as an independent title abstractor before she attended law school. Her practice for more than 40 years has centered on residential and commercial transactions and related matters.

Associates and commercial work

Rob M. Draughon, III has been an associate since 2012. He earned his J.D. from the University of Tennessee School of Law in 2007 and an undergraduate degree in finance and insurance/risk management from the University of Mississippi in 2004. He belongs to both the Memphis and Mississippi bar associations, and his practice includes residential and commercial real estate.

Jonathan L. Branning joined as an associate in 2024. He works on residential and commercial real estate. Much of his time goes to helping buyers, sellers and realtors with the issues that come up on the way to a closing.

Brett A. Schubert focuses on commercial real estate. He has represented Fortune 500 companies, regional and national commercial lenders, public and privately held companies, real estate investment trusts, and investors in markets across the country.

Estate planning and business matters

Thomas L. Maschmeyer, Jr. is a member who works on estate planning, probate and trusts. He has lectured to peers on topics that include the Tennessee Uniform Trust Code, the drafting of health care directives, charitable trusts, and estate administration and fiduciary duties. He earned a B.S., summa cum laude, from Southeast Missouri State University and his J.D. from Memphis State University School of Law.

The firm's estate work covers wills, trusts and the administration of estates. Its business practice covers the structuring of arrangements, the choice of entity, and the buying or selling of businesses and assets. A client who owns property and a company can keep both sets of documents under one roof.

History and continuity

The name carries more than one generation of practice. William N. Griffin, Sr. began his real estate work in 1969 with Matthews and Matthews. The firm lists him In Memoriam and keeps him off the current attorney roster. Raymond S. Clift, whose name stays in the firm's title, is retired.

The firm describes more than 75 years of service. It does not publish a single founding year, so the clearest anchors are the people. Lawyers who have handled property matters since the 1970s put dates and names behind that longevity.

As a reviewer, I read the roster as the firm's strongest signal. These are named attorneys with dated credentials and decades in the same kind of work. For a buyer, seller or lender in Tennessee or Mississippi who wants a real estate closing and the surrounding contract, business and estate documents handled in one place, that record is easy to check against what the firm says.