MEMPHIS – As part of its 84th anniversary celebration, Carnival Memphis will salute the Mid-South Legal Industry during the annual Business & Industry Salute Luncheon on May 5 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Hilton Memphis, 939 Ridge Lake Boulevard.

Each year the Business & Industry Salute Luncheon recognizes community leaders and businesses that help make Memphis a great place to live and work. Represented by this year’s King, John Bobango, chief manager of Farris Bobango, PLC, a Memphis based full-service law firm, Carnival Memphis spotlights the incredibly important Mid-South Legal industry. The luncheon will honor five locally headquartered full-service law firms; the largest corporate law department in Tennessee and two nonprofit organizations that are vital to the legal industry. In addition, four individuals will receive special recognition. These organizations and individuals have been selected based on their success and commitment to their industry as well as the Mid-South community.

This year’s recipient of the Cook Halle Award for outstanding contribution to the Mid-South community is Lewis R. Donelson III. Mr. Donelson is senior counsel of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, the largest law firm in the state of Tennessee and 68th largest in the country. He has practiced law for over 75 years and has been active in politics since 1952, through his involvement at the local, state and national levels. Mr. Donelson's commitment to the Legal Industry and the Memphis community exemplifies the qualities of those who have received Carnival’s highest honor.

The King’s Award will be presented to the Honorable Julia Gibbons, United States Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. A former attorney, Judge Gibbons was appointed Circuit Court Judge, 15th Judicial Circuit, Division VI in 1981 becoming the first woman trial judge of a court of record in Tennessee. When she was appointed as United States District Judge, Western District of Tennessee in June 1983 she became the youngest Article III judge in the nation at the time and the first female federal judge from Tennessee.

The 2015 President’s Award will be presented to S. Shepherd Tate of the law firm of Martin, Tate, Morrow & Marston PC. Mr. Tate has received numerous honors and awards including the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Foundation, Benjamin L. Hooks Award in 2003 and the Memphis Bar Association Lawyer's Lawyer Award in 1990. He served as president of the Memphis, Tennessee and American Bar Associations and was recipient of the Alumnus of the Year Award given by the National Conference of Bar Presidents in 1996.

As a partner of the firm Burch, Porter and Johnson, W. J. Michael Cody is a worthy recipient of the Chairman's Award. With 54 years in the legal profession, Mr. Cody has led a distinguished career as an advocate, mediator and leader in dispute resolution. As a young attorney Mr. Cody worked with Lucius E. Burch Jr. to represent Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the sanitation strike of 1968, helping to persuade a federal judge to lift the city's injunction against a march that Dr. King was planning in support of the striking sanitation workers.

The businesses being saluted are these Memphis-based law firms: Apperson Crump PLC, Evans Petree PC, Farris Bobango PLC, Glankler Brown PLLC and Harris Shelton Hanover Walsh PLLC; and the Fed Ex Legal Departments, Memphis Area Legals Services Inc. and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

Proceeds of the luncheon benefit the 2015 Carnival Children’s Charities: Madonna Learning Center, Peer Power Foundation and RedZone Ministries. Tickets are $45 per person (tables of 10 are available) and may be purchased by calling (901) 458-2500 by 5 p.m. on April 23 or ordering online.

The Business & Industry Salute Luncheon is presented by Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP.

About Carnival Memphis
Carnival Memphis is a non-profit organization founded in 1931 to support, enhance, and promote the commerce and culture of Memphis and the Mid-South through an annual salute of Business and Industry; to provide a forum for social interaction that fosters understanding, enjoyment, and involvement of the area’s diverse population; and to raise funds for charities that benefit local children. Carnival Memphis has raised over $1,750,000 for local children’s charities since 1999. For more information on Carnival Memphis visit www.carnivalmemphis.org or www.facebook.com/carnivalmemphis.

Download the group’s press release.