Professor Maha Ayesh joined the Winston College of Law in 2026 as the law school’s inaugural Director of Externships.  Prior to that, she served for six years on the faculty of the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law, first as its Director of Experiential Learning and then as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.  She has also taught a variety of courses, including externship seminar, trial practice, pretrial litigation, employment law, and a 1L professional identity formation course.

Prof. Ayesh is a graduate of the UT Winston College of Law and was named the Outstanding Graduate of her class. After law school, she clerked for the Hon. Joseph Tipton on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals before practicing law with a boutique employment and civil rights litigation firm in Knoxville.  She took a sabbatical from her litigation practice when she was awarded a U.S Fulbright Scholarship in 2011 to work on a project related to labor-based human trafficking and the rights of migrant workers in Amman, Jordan.

Prof. Ayesh has a long record of service to the state and local bar and in Knoxville, her hometown.  She has served on committees and/or boards within bar organizations including the Tennessee Bar Association, the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility, the Tennessee Employment Lawyers’ Association, and the East Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women.  She is a past recipient of the KBA Barrister’s Law Through Liberty award and has presented numerous CLEs on employment law-related topics.

As Director of Externships, Prof. Ayesh oversees the law school’s externship and field placement programs.  She is particularly interested in bridging students’ desire for hands-on legal experience with unmet legal needs in our community.  She enjoys working with students on developing essential lawyering skills, exploring foundational lawyering values, and discovering how they can forge fulfilling careers in the law.

• Education & Experience

JD, 2006, University of Tennessee Winston College of Law
B.A., summa cum laude and University Honors Scholar, 2002, University of Tennessee

Curriculum Vitae