Johnson & Spezia, PLLC

We can help you get things back on track.

Meet Our Attorneys

Jennifer L. Johnson

Jennifer is from Mount Juliet, TN, but her home is so close to Davidson County that she considers Nashville her front yard and Mount Juliet her back yard. After working in creditor’s rights a couple of years, Jennifer moved over to working in bankruptcy and found that she enjoys helping people get back on their feet. She focuses on finding solutions for clients and seeks options available to them.

Jennifer focuses on primarily consumer debtor cases in the Chapter 13 and Chapter 7 bankruptcies; however, she has represented and continues to represent creditors and other parties affected by a bankruptcy.

Jennifer is a graduate from Nashville School of Law. She is licensed to practice in Tennessee and admitted to the Federal District Court of Middle Tennessee. Jennifer has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Middle Tennessee State University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She also graduated with High Honors from Mount Juliet High School.

Jennifer spends most of her free time at her son’s soccer games, with her family, or hitting the ball around the tennis courts.

Michelle Spezia

Michelle has over 17 years of experience representing debtors in Chapter 7, 11, 12, and 13 bankruptcy proceedings. She thrives in negotiation and has worked cooperatively with creditor representatives and bankruptcy trustees to garner solutions for her clients. She can analyze situations from multiple angles to provide clients with the best outcomes to rebuild financially.

Michelle graduated from Valparaiso University School of Law and is licensed to practice in Tennessee. She is registered to appear in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Circuit and Chancery Courts of Davidson County, and the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Additionally, Michelle has a Bachelor of Arts from College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. Michelle is a member of the Tennessee and Nashville Bar Associations and the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

Michelle lives in Springfield, where she enjoys being active with the city and Springfield’s Historic District. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, planning events, and building Lego.

Jon D. Long (of Counsel)

Jon is a lifelong native of Nashville and brings over 30 years of professional experience as a design professional and attorney to the practice of law. He focuses his legal practice on helping consumers with financial issues. This includes representation in bankruptcy, student loan debt, creditor negotiation, debt suit defense, and foreclosure defense. As well as being a licensed attorney, he maintains a Professional Engineering license and is LEED AP certified.

More about Jon

Jon focuses his practice on representation in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy and has represented thousands of clients in their bankruptcy proceedings.

Jon received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Nashville School of Law, where he earned the #1 academic rank in his graduating class receiving both the School’s Founder’s Award and induction in the Honorable Cooper’s Inn. He is admitted to the bar of the Courts of the State of Tennessee and the Middle District of Tennessee Federal Courts. He received an Associates Degree in Science from Volunteer State Community College where he graduated Cum Laude and a Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering from Tennessee Technological University where he also graduated Cum Laude.

When not practicing law, Jon and his wife, Trish, enjoy spending time with their dogs, eating at the many great Nashville restaurants, and passing time in the beautiful Tennessee countryside.

Lewis G. “Buddy” Burnett, Jr. (of Counsel)

Buddy is a Nashville native and grew up in the West Nashville area. He is a graduate of Belmont College and from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. He has been licensed since May 1979 and actively engaged in the practice of law since that date. He is a member of the Nashville Bar Association. He has been engaged in the practice of bankruptcy law since 1980 and has represented countless numbers of people in chapter 7 and 13 petitions and Adversary Proceedings. He is also admitted to practice before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as the United States District Court.

More about Buddy

Buddy is an experienced trial lawyer and has represented defendants in criminal felony jury trials, contested divorces, workers’ compensation, and personal injury cases, but has chosen to focus on bankruptcy matters in recent years. He is a “lawyer’s lawyer” and has represented numerous attorneys on disciplinary hearings before the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility.

Buddy has been active in the Nashville Bar Association Nashville Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers committee since 1986 and a member of the Nashville Bar Association since 1979. He is a member of a group of attorneys that started a petition in 1998, resulting on January 7, 1999, in Tennessee Supreme Court adopting Rule 33 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, establishing a state wide Tennessee Lawyer Assistance Program (“TLAP”). He received the Nashville Bar Association Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award in 2011 for representing in excess of 60 contested divorce cases through the Legal aid Society Pro Bono Program.

Buddy married Mary Austin Burnett in 1971. Mary is a retired Registered Nurse. They have two adult children named Katie and Patrick.

Buddy is an avid motorcyclist and has ridden and continuously owned motorcycles since 1965 and has taught Motorcycle Safety Foundation Rider Courses at a nearby community college since 1991. He became an active Assistant Scout Master with Boy Scout Troop 87 in 1996, worked on staff at the National Scout Jamborees in 2001 and 2005, and is still registered as an adult leader with the organization. He is Woodbadge trained in the Scouting program, has successfully completed a Crew trek at Camp Philmont, and has made two sailing tours with Scouts at Sea Base at Islamorada.

Everyone in Nashville plays guitar, and Buddy is an amateur blues guitar picker.

About Our Firm

Lawyers should be more than scribes. They should do more than fill out papers and stand for you in court. Lawyers are also Counselors at Law. People who work with us seek to solve problems they are facing. Their Lawyer needs to be motivated to solve problems. To make their client’s life a little better. To take away some of the stresses. Producing documents and appearing in court are just means to achieve solutions to problems.

We at Johnson & Spezia take seriously our obligation to Counsel our clients.

We listen to their problems with a sympathetic ear and advise them on solutions to these problems. We are as much educators and counselors as anything else. We educate people about how to not just solve their current problems but about how to avoid future problems. We listen and give advice.

We also know visiting an attorney’s office can be stressful. We do all we can to make your visit a stress-free event. This starts with our location. We are located on the edge of Sylvan Park in West Nashville in a quiet residential setting. Access is easy to our office from the Interstate and surrounding areas of Nashville. Parking is no hassle, right in front of our building. No fighting downtown parking and traffic for our clients! We maintain a low-key work environment and have carefully selected our décor to convey a message of comfort.