Before starting Marino Finley, Tillman served as an associate in a large multinational law firm where he gained experience dealing with high-stakes and complex litigation matters. He has a wide range of civil and criminal litigation experience, including multiple jury trials in various state and federal courts around the country and overseas. His civil litigation experience has encompassed a number of industries and areas of the law, including financial services class actions, insurance coverage and bad faith, products liability, trade secrets, professional liability, and government contracts. Tillman has also represented clients charged with criminal offenses, ranging from homicide offenses to sophisticated business crimes. He regularly represents individuals called to appear before grand juries and other investigative bodies.

From 2003 to 2005, Tillman served as law clerk to the Honorable Curtis L. Collier of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee where he gained significant practical experience with respect to all areas of the federal trial court process, both civil and criminal. Tillman attended Duke University School of Law, from which he graduated magna cum laude and where he served as Executive Editor of the Alaska Law Review.