NASHVILLE, May 12, 2025 — Nashville lawyer Margaret Behm will be honored next month with the Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award from the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) and Tennessee’s American Inns of Court. The award will be presented at the 2025 Bench/Bar Luncheon set for June 12 as part of the TBA’s Annual Convention in Franklin.

Behm is an attorney with Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella where she focuses on business law, employment and municipal law, estate planning and commercial litigation. She earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and began her legal career in 1976 at Legal Services of Middle Tennessee Inc. In 1980, Behm and Marietta Shipley (who later would serve 16 years as a Davidson County Circuit Court judge) founded Shipley and Behm, the city’s first all-woman law firm. Behm joined her current firm in 1988.

Behm is being honored for her selfless contributions to the legal profession, which include a number of “firsts.” In 1994, Behm was appointed by the speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives to serve as the first chair of the Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission, which was created to review and recommend candidates for judicial vacancies. (In 2016, the commission was reorganized as the Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments.) In 2015 and 2016, Behm led what was then a record-breaking fundraising campaign for the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, which provides legal advice to low-income residents in 48 counties. Finally, Behm was instrumental in formation of the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission and served as its first chair beginning in 2009. That entity was created to assist the court in responding to civil legal needs in the state.

Her other contributions include service on the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners, the body that administers the state bar exam for attorneys; as general counsel for the Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Authority and the Metropolitan Transit Authority; and teaching at Vanderbilt University Law School over a 30-year period. Behm also has received multiple awards from Tennessee and national organizations. Read more about her many honors.

In announcing the selection of Behm for this award, TBA President Ed Lanquist Jr. said, “Margaret Behm has spent her career in service to the legal profession advancing the best things about our practice. While she has promoted the role of all lawyers, she has specifically promoted the role of women by serving as a mentor and an inspiration to many, including many serving on the bench today. She embodies the qualities envisioned in the Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award. A lawyer’s lawyer, we are grateful for her many contributions to the profession.”

The Judge Pamela L. Reeves Tennessee Professionalism Award is presented by the TBA and Tennessee’s American Inns of Court to a lawyer or judge whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the rule of law and the highest standards of the legal profession in Tennessee. The award is named in honor of the late Judge Pamela L. Reeves, former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee and the first recipient of the award. Reeves was an active leader in both the American Inns of Court and the TBA, where she was elected the first female president in 1988. Learn more and see a list of past recipients on the TBA website.

The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) is the largest professional association in Tennessee with nearly 14,000 members. Founded in 1881, the TBA represents the entire spectrum of the legal profession in Tennessee and beyond, and is dedicated to enhancing fellowship and professionalism among the members of Tennessee’s legal community.

The American Inns of Court is an international organization that envisions a legal profession and judiciary dedicated to professionalism, ethics, civility and excellence. Its mission is to inspire the legal community to advance the rule of law by achieving the highest level of professionalism through example, education and mentoring. Tennessee is home to 10 local American Inns of Court located in Chattanooga, Franklin, Jackson, Knoxville, Memphis, Murfreesboro and Nashville.