Federal court documents released on Monday reveal that Candace Owens has retained Robert A. Peal, recognized as a “Super Lawyer” from the Nashville firm Sims Funk, to represent her in the defamation lawsuit by Brian Harpole, the former head of security for Charlie Kirk.
Peal (pictured above) announced his appearance on behalf of Owens in a notice to the court last week, confirming he will represent Owens personally, as well as the associated limited liability company (LLC) and the incorporated entity named as defendants in Harpole’s lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Owens and a former guest on her podcast, Mitch Snow, conspired to spread a fabricated story that they knew would lead the public to believe that Harpole and Erika Kirk attended a meeting at a military base in Arizona one day before Charlie Kirk was publicly assassinated in Utah last September.
According to Super Lawyers, the Thomson Reuters peer-influenced ratings service that lists the top 5 percent attorneys in each state annually, Peal has been rated a “Super Lawyer” repeatedly from 2019 through 2025.
His biography on the Sims Funk website states Peal “represents businesses, executives, and high-profile individuals in complex commercial disputes and high-stakes litigation.”
The biography further states that Peal focuses “on matters that threaten core business operations, leadership, or reputation — including bet-the-company disputes, crisis-driven litigation, internal investigations, and parallel civil, criminal, and regulatory proceedings.”
A 2006 graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, Peal has been involved in multiple high-profile cases, including the University of Tennessee – Knoxville in a contentious Title IX lawsuit that ended with a $2.48 million settlement in 2016. More recently, Peal represented the University School of Nashville when a former teacher was accused of sexual misconduct in 2024.
In addition to Peal, the court was informed that Owens will be represented by Megan Chambers, another Sims Funk attorney.
While Owens began assembling her legal team last week, Harpole’s already includes Dhillon Law Group attorney Matthew Sarelson, Florida-based attorney Jacob William Roth, as well as Tara Swafford and Elizabeth Hart of the Tennessee-based Swafford Law Firm. The Dhillon Group previously offered unrelated legal assistance to The Tennessee Star ahead of its publication of manifesto pages written by Covenant School killer Audrey Hale.
In a response issued shortly after the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Owens suggested her legal strategy could include the deposition of Charlie Kirk’s widow, and a push for the release of never-before-seen footage of his assassination.
Tyler Robinson, a 23-year-old Utah man, stands accused of the September 2025 assassination of Charlie Kirk. Robinson has no known ties to Arizona or Fort Huachuca, the military base where Snow claimed to have witnessed a suspicious meeting involving Brian Harpole the day before the killing. Robinson’s preliminary hearing is now scheduled for July.
In a legal filing submitted last week, Harpole’s attorneys asked a federal magistrate judge to authorize the U.S. Marshals Service to serve Snow with the lawsuit, claiming he successfully avoided a process server on multiple occasions.
The lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell, who was appointed by President Donald Trump.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rob Peal” by Sims Funk.Â
