Ronald David Garland was born in Johnson City, Tennessee in 1952. His undergraduate school was East Tennessee State University where he graduated in 1974 with majors in journalism and political science after which he worked for the Kingsport Times News as County bureau chief. He also worked for other newspapers. His newspaper work included coverage of local and federal courts, and he obtained several awards for his newspaper work. Ron graduated from East Tennessee State University in 1974 and from the College of Law at the University of Tennessee in 1989 with high honors, including achieving Order of the Coif designation. He was admitted to practice in state and federal courts and was a member of local, state and national bar associations. Ron’s initial work in practicing law began with Wagner, Myers & Sanger, P.C. upon his law school graduation, and his work varied. An initial involvement was his active participation in a significant utility law case. His work evolved into a practice of real estate and transaction law. This work included his participation for about 25 years in the representation of a national company in that company’s business activities in most of the states in this country.