The Public Service Award winners were honored at a brunch in April. (Left to right) TBA ATJ Committee Vice Chair Linda Warren Seely, TBA President Tasha Blakney, winners Anne Boatner, David Cook, Tenaya Winkelman, TBA President-elect Jim Barry, TBA ATJ Committee Chair Ann Pruitt.

Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Attorney of the Year

This year’s Harris Gilbert Award is presented to Memphis attorney David M. Cook. The award recognizes private attorneys who have contributed a significant amount of pro bono work and have demonstrated dedication to the development and delivery of legal services to the poor. The award is named after Gilbert, a Nashville attorney and past Tennessee Bar Association president, who exemplified this type of commitment. Gilbert passed away in February 2023 at age 91.

David M. Cook has dedicated his professional career to providing pro bono legal counsel to generations of Memphians. Cook’s reputation as a masterful litigator in the courtroom and his empathy for the unique challenges his clients face has inspired colleagues throughout Memphis to follow his lead regarding pro bono work as an essential responsibility of their profession. As Cook told the Memphis Daily News, “a law license is a privilege and not a right.”

Cook is a fourth generation Memphian and the first in his family to graduate from college, receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee. “The last three generations on my father’s side were all river men. But my father said that was not for me.” Cook credits his mother for setting him on a path that would eventually lead him to a career in law as well as a love of classic literature.

“As a native Memphian, I guess the thing I’m proudest of is attending Christian Brothers High School. Not because I’m Roman Catholic but because I was a discipline problem. After my father died when I was 12, my mother had the eminent good sense to send me to the Brothers. They gave me just enough sense to keep it going.”

After receiving a law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Cook was admitted to the bar and joined the Hardison Law Firm in 1977. “When I started practicing 46 years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to work for an older lawyer mentor, Lee Andrew Hardison Jr. It was just the two of us at first.” Hardison proved to be an enthusiastic and sometimes wily mentor. In a feature for Mid South Super Lawyers Magazine, Cook regaled that soon after joining the practice, he accompanied Hardison to a jury trial as an observer when Hardison surprised his protégé by handing him the case. “He selected the jury and then leaned over my shoulder and said, ‘I have a headache. Take over, my boy.’”

Hardison inspired Cook to embrace the thrill (and agony) of trial work and to regard moments of uncertainty as vital parts of the job. Cook’s appreciation for Hardison’s confidence and work ethic continues today. He also credits Hardison for fostering his deep compassion for Memphis’ most vulnerable population. “I’m very proud that I kept the Hardison Law Firm name for 40 years.” Today, Cook has retired as the President of the Hardison Law Firm PC and has earned a reputation among both clients and colleagues for tenacity, compassion and brilliance in the courtroom. Cook received the Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award from Memphis Area Legal Services in 2006 and the Memphis Bar Association Lawyer’s Lawyer Award in 2010.

In 2007 while serving as president of the Memphis Bar Association, Cook and attorney Linda Warren Seely, then of the Memphis Area Legal Services (MALS), set up the Second Saturday Legal Clinic (2SLAC) offering pro bono counsel sessions at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library. “We’ve done that every month since,” said Cook. “We were shut down during the early days of the coronavirus but we’re back up to full speed now. We see close to 100 clients a month. And there are always 30 to 40 volunteer lawyers involved. It is the noblest endeavor the Memphis bar has ever done.”

Longtime colleague Sam Blaiss, a recipient of the Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award from Memphis Area Legal Services, noted in his nomination letter that Cook has been a catalyst for the Memphis legal community. “David had the vision and the gravitas to tell us that we needed to be in one central location so that people, if they wanted to refer friends and family to the clinic, would not have to find out where we were. Because of that, I think we have grown and flourished and it is now a part of the fabric of the legal community.”

Cook notes that the most interesting pro bono case he worked on began with a phone call he first thought might be a practical joke. “I had a call from a hospital. There was a young couple and the husband was very ill. His wife had just visited him and was heading back to her home when he died. She wanted his semen harvested and the hospital refused. The viability of semen after death is only 24 hours. I had the wife and a doctor come to my office the next morning where I had prepared a petition and an order for an injunction. We had a hearing and the injunction was granted. I drove it to the hospital and the semen was harvested. Years later, I learned that a child was born.”

Cindy Cole Ettingoff, CEO & general counsel of Memphis Area Legal Services, noted in her nomination letter that Cook has been a tireless advocate for his clients as well as the Memphis legal community, whether sitting as a special judge in General Sessions Court or leading pro bono clinics around the city. “David keeps will, POA and advance directive forms in the trunk of his car along with his notary seal and has always been willing to provide services to clients in the hospital or elsewhere at a moment’s notice. He has done so much, so consistently, for so long to advance access to justice.”

“I’m very proud and surprised by this award,” said Cook. “Mr. Hardison instilled in me from my very first days the importance of doing pro bono work, because what a lawyer can offer that no one else can is the ability to take away the burden.”

— Paul Burch

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Ashley T. Wiltshire Public Service Attorney of the Year Award

The  Ashley  T. Wiltshire Public Service Attorney of the Year Award is given to an attorney who has provided dedicated and outstanding service while employed by an organization that is primarily engaged in providing legal representation to the poor. This year’s award is given to Anne Boatner, staff attorney at Legal Aid of East Tennessee in Chattanooga.

From the moment Anne Boatner received her law degree from Vanderbilt Law School, she knew she wanted to devote her career to helping Tennesseans who otherwise would not have means or access to legal representation. Since joining the staff of Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Boatner has been a driving force in the Eviction Prevention Initiative that works to provide renters expert legal counsel to avoid or reverse eviction.

“I have always wanted to provide direct legal services to people who would not otherwise be able to meaningfully participate in our legal system,” Boatner told TBA. “That’s why I went to law school. I didn’t have a clear vision of exactly how I would do that until I came to Legal Aid of East Tennessee and started working with the Eviction Prevention Initiative.”

Boatner is praised by her colleagues for her diligence and legal skill in keeping clients in their homes and seeing that landlords adhere to the letter of the law. She has also become a vital resource for all those working to navigate the dynamic changes to state, city and county laws brought on by the pandemic. Boatner serves as co-chair of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services housing task force and frequently speaks at conferences throughout Tennessee on housing advocacy.

Judge Alexander McVeagh noted in his recommendation letter that he has great respect for Boatner’s attention to detail and her litigation skills in court. “All of my General Sessions Court colleagues and I are extremely grateful for the work that Anne and many of her Legal Aid colleagues provide those who face significant barriers to access to justice and potential homelessness. She is a caring and intelligent attorney who successfully negotiates compromise resolutions to many of her cases and also zealously defends her clients in eviction court. She has personally kept countless tenants housed during some of the most stressful days of their lives.”

In an interview for the Hamilton County Herald in 2021, Boatner noted that she was first motivated to become an attorney during her undergraduate work at Brooklyn College. “Social justice has always framed my life. Being a product of (the financial crisis) 2008, our generation is sensitive to social justice issues because we’ve seen the impact on our on our peers.”

Today, Boatner says it’s easy to overlook how disruptive and expensive moving can be. “Often, the best solution in an eviction case is for the tenant to move, but moving is expensive and time-consuming. It’s nearly impossible for many people we serve. I’d love if there were a volunteer moving service that my clients could use. I’ve played around with the idea of starting one myself, but there are only so many hours in a day. This work is hard. The current housing crisis has had a measurable, visible impact on our communities. Our neighbors are struggling to stay safely and stably housed. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to help people experiencing housing insecurity, but I hate that the demand for my help is so high.”

Patrick A. Wagner Esq. of Wagner & Weeks PLLC, notes that though he and Anne frequently meet in the courtroom as adversaries, “you will not find a more zealous advocate for his or her client than Ms. Boatner. I should know, as I am the one who has to deal with said zealous advocacy more than just about anyone else.”

Wagner also praised Boatner’s ability during trials to seek compromises that can benefit both parties, noting that “she has worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic era to help the judges here develop an eviction prevention initiative. She has also crafted a method by which the court can, essentially, expunge past eviction records for dismissed eviction lawsuits, thus allowing greater access to housing for folks who have been sued via an unlawful detainer warrant in the past. You would be hard-pressed to find someone more deserving of this distinguished award in Tennessee — or anywhere.”

Boatner is equally committed to inspiring the next generation of attorneys, organizing mock trial competitions in the Chattanooga area and around the state. She currently serves as a representative for Legal Aid of East Tennessee on the board of the Chattanooga Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. Boatner is quick to praise her colleagues and fellow advocates for their insight, commitment and inspiration.

“Meeting and learning from housing advocates around the state and county has been the most exciting and energizing part about doing this kind of work, and I have learned so much from them … success is any time I can help my neighbors find or retain safe and sustainable housing.”

— Paul Burch

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Law Student Volunteer of the Year

The  Law Student Volunteer of the Year recognizes a Tennessee law student who provides outstanding volunteer services while working with an organization that provides legal representation to the indigent. This year’s honoree is Tenaya Winkelman, a student at Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law.

When Tenaya Winkelman showed up for her first pro bono clinic in 2022, she had no idea what to expect. “It was kind of wild! We had record-breaking attendance and people just kept showing up all afternoon,” she says. “I think we helped 60 people in five and a half hours.”

After that first exhilarating clinic experience, she knew she wanted to do it again, and she noticed that a lot of the controlled chaos involved completing administrative tasks. Caitlin Torney, director of pro bono for Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET), says that Winkelman “took it upon herself to create a ‘clinic to go’ box to help make clinics run smoother, demonstrating her proactive and innovative approach to problem-solving.” Winkelman observed that her first few clinics were “reactive rather than proactive,” so she considered LAET’s approach. “We now do all of the administrative work prior to the clinic. The volunteer attorneys are so busy, and it can feel like Sparta: the few against the many. I thought about how we could be the most efficient and reduce unnecessary stress.”

And thus, the “clinic to go” box was born. The box holds everything necessary to run a legal advice clinic and is replenished after each event or when supplies get low. Winkelman notes that the clinics are often held in odd places and during “off work” hours, so access to a copy machine, stapler or printer is never guaranteed. Torney believes that Winkelman’s efforts have made a significant impact on the quality of care delivered to clients and helped LAET’s Pro Bono Project to streamline its program going forward.

Moreover, Torney also states that when the need arose, Winkelman stepped up and “ran the Blount County Bar Clinic in November 2022 single-handedly, demonstrating her dedication and commitment to serving the community. Her ability to manage the clinic’s operations and provide legal support to those in need is a testament to her exceptional organizational and leadership skills.”

A non-traditional law student — Winkelman has an MBA and was director of digital strategy for a Dallas ad agency — she and her husband moved with their young daughter to Knoxville so Winkelman could attend Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law. Dean Matt Lyon says, “Tenaya has used her professional experience and organizational skills to benefit others. During her summer externship with LAET in 2022, Tenaya worked over 240 hours, focused primarily on housing matters and orders of protection. She attended detainer warrant court at least weekly and drafted power of attorney documents, client letters and a simple will. She continues to work with Caitlin Torney and LAET, and with LMU Law’s Pro Bono Committee on community pro bono clinics and services.”

Winkelman notes that with free legal clinics, regardless of the focus, “You never know who is coming in the door. You don’t know who you’ll be able to help and who you can’t.” Helping train law student volunteers on the clinic intake process is one of Winkelman’s jobs. “I’m kind of the conductor and in the background, getting everything running on time.” She says that if the clinic isn’t busy, students are encouraged to sit with the client through their consultation with the attorney assigned to their case. “It’s a learning experience for them to hear what advice the attorney gives in each situation. It also can serve as a ‘reality check’ for the students that there are still people in the community who need the kind of help that we’re providing, and this is the only way they’re getting it.”

Torney states, “In all my interactions with Ms. Winkelman, I have been impressed with her unwavering commitment to public service, her exceptional work ethic and her ability to inspire those around her. She is a natural leader, and her dedication to serving the community is truly remarkable.”

Asked about her feelings toward receiving the award, Winkelman says, “I still feel some imposter syndrome because I didn’t start doing this work hoping to be recognized. But it’s wonderful to see that this work really is making an impact.” Her personal motto is to “live life tenaciously: I know enough to know that I don’t know enough. I’m still learning.”

— Julia Canada Wilburn