Stephen Kyle Tapp, Attorney

City Courts

Your case will be heard in one of the three divisions of Memphis City Court if you received a traffic citation inside the Memphis city limits and were not also charged with a more serious offense that those courts cannot handle.

Hiring a lawyer to represent you for your Memphis ticket can reduce the time you have to spend at Court.

The city courts of Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, and Millington, in addition to hearing cases of traffic and other ordinance violations inside their respective city limits, have been authorized by the Tennessee General Assembly to dispose of state law misdemeanors and conduct preliminary examinations in felony cases, when the arrest was made by their respective municipal police force.  Felony cases for which the judges of those courts find probable cause are sent to the District Attorney General's central office for possible indictment by a grand jury for Tennessee's 30th Judicial District.  Any further proceedings in such cases will be in the Criminal Courts of Shelby County at 201 Poplar Avenue in downtown Memphis.

I have practiced in all the aforementioned city courts.

Click here or on the City Court link above for more information and contact numbers for the courts mentioned.

General Sessions Courts

Unless you are arrested for a state misdemeanor or felony by a municipal police department in Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, or Millington, your state case will be heard first in one or more of the General Sessions Courts for Shelby County at 201 Poplar Avenue in downtown Memphis.

Depending on the facts of your case and your prior record, your charges can be dismissed or reduced through negotiation with the District Attorney General's office or can be dismissed for lack of probable cause by the judge.  You can plead guilty to misdemeanors in General Sessions Court or waive your charges to the grand jury for possible indictment.  You can also be placed on judicial diversion for misdemeanors by those courts, the successful completion of which results in dismissal of the charges, which in turn entitles you to expungement of the public records of your arrest and court proceedings.

I have practiced in all divisions of Shelby County's General Sessions Courts and in the General Sessions Courts in Tipton and Fayette County.

Criminal Courts

After state indictment for a violation of Tennessee law, your case will be heard in the Criminal Courts for the 30th Judicial District, which is only Shelby County.  These courts can do all the things General Sessions Courts can do, and more.  Diversion in the Criminal Courts can be for felonies as well as misdemeanors, and the District Attorney General can agree to place you on another form of diversion.  It is in these courts you are entitled to a full-fledged trial on the merits.

I have practiced in all divisions of Shelby County's Criminal Courts and in both of the corresponding Circuit Courts in Tipton and Fayette County.

Federal Courts

I am admitted to practice in the Federal District Courts of the Western District of Tennessee and have handled numerous cases in those courts, including drug cases, identity theft, money laundering, and the like.

Cases for the different charges in these different courts involve varying amounts of time and work for lawyers, and therefore different fees.  I will set a fair fee after your initial free consultation and after my preliminary research on your particular charges and the likely evidence against you.  I will also have a good idea of the possible resolutions of your case and the likelihood of each of them, so you can start deciding which path you want to take.  Understand, though, there are no guarantees in the legal outcome of a case.  I do not make such guarantees; and you should be skeptical of any attorney who does make them.

Feel free to email me or call me to discuss any criminal charges that have been lodged against you.

If you use email, please follow the guidelines below.

Prospective Client Inquiry Guidelines

Please identify the general nature of the charge(s) against you and include the booking or indictment number if you have them, along with your name and date of birth.  Please do NOT at this time include any information that might be useful to any co-defendants in your case until I have agreed to take your case, because I may already represent a co-defendant in your case.  Emailing me means you understand and agree to this.  Also, remember that email is usually unencrypted and is not a completely secure form of communication.  I do have the capability to receive encrypted email.  If you have that capability too, I invite use of that format; or you can waive the lack of security by using ordinary email with me.  Feel free to call me and/or make an appointment to meet with me instead.