Lee V. Coffee was elected to Shelby County Criminal Court, Division VII in August 2006 and is currently serving in that position.

Judge Coffee received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Judge Coffee received his law degree from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Prior to his election, Judge Coffee had been an Assistant District Attorney General for the Shelby County District Attorney General's Office. He had been employed previously as an Assistant United State's Attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee, an Assistant Public Defender with the Shelby County Public Defender's Office and as an Assistant District Attorney with the Harris County District Attorney's Office in Houston, Texas.

Judge Coffee is a member of the Tennessee Trial Judges Association, the Tennessee Judicial Council, the Texas Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and is an Instructor at the National Advocacy Center.