Ahern is managing partner of the Nashville, Tennessee, office of Burr and Forman LLP. He is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and is board certified in business bankruptcy by the American Board of Certification, for which he now serves as a director and president elect. His other affiliations include the American Bankruptcy Institute (director), the Mid-South Commercial Law Institute (past director and president), the Tennessee Commission on CLE and Specialization (past chair), and the Tennessee Bar Association (past chair of the Section of Commercial, Bankruptcy and Banking Law). Ahern is a Vanderbilt Law School graduate and has served there since 1998 as adjunct professor of law, teaching secured transactions. He also served as visiting professor at Cumberland School of Law (Fall 2002), teaching secured transactions and banking. He is a frequent speaker and writer in his fields of practice and has written and co-authored numerous national Thomson West publications.