Assistant Public Defender and Appellate Director Brennan Wingerter will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s Third Annual Claudia Jack Award. Named after the late Claudia Jack, a long-time champion of the poor and underprivileged, and a public defender in Maury County, the award is presented to an outstanding a public defender or court-appointed private practitioner who has served the legal community and her clients in an exemplary fashion. Wingerter is an honors graduate from the University of Tennessee College of Law who began her legal career by completing a multi-judicial clerkship in the Tennessee Supreme Court and serving as a professor of law at Lincoln Memorial University. She then became the inaugural director of the Appellate Division of the District Public Defenders Conference and built a statewide office from the ground up, leading the office in and out of the courtroom, and taking a lead role in statewide efforts to improve appellate advocacy on behalf of indigent clients. The Claudia Jack Award will be presented at the Tennessee Bar Association Annual Convention in Nashville on June 17 during the Lawyers’ Luncheon. Read the full press release.

Nashville attorney and former Tennessee Bar Association President John Tarpley will be honored next month with the prestigious William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award. Named for former Attorney General William M. Leech and presented by the Fellows of the TBA Young Lawyers Division, the award is given to a Tennessee lawyer who has been of outstanding service to the profession, legal system and the community. Tarpley is a shareholder in the Nashville office of Lewis Thomason. In addition to his service to the TBA, he has held numerous leadership positions with local, state and national legal organizations, and has served as president of the board of directors of the Music City Chapter of the March of Dimes and as a member of the board of directors of First Steps. He is a 2016 graduate of Leadership Nashville. The Leech Award will be presented at the Tennessee Bar Association Annual Convention in Nashville on June 17 during the Lawyers’ Luncheon. Read the full press release.

The TBA announced today the selection of 34 attorneys from across the state for its 2022 Leadership Law (TBALL) program. TBALL is designed to equip Tennessee lawyers with the vision, knowledge and skills necessary to serve as leaders in their profession and local communities. The class will meet for its first session in March and spend the next six months learning about leadership in the legal profession, issues in the courts, policymaking in state government and the importance of community service. The program, now in its nineteenth year, is produced by a steering committee of 12 attorneys, all former class members. Co-chairing the program are Terica Smith from the 26th Judicial District Attorney General's office in Jackson and Jeffrey Maddux of Chambliss Bahner & Stophel in Chattanooga. Meet the Class of 2022.

Murfreesboro assistant city attorney Elizabeth Taylor was chosen as the recipient of this year’s Larry Dean Wilks Leadership Award by fellow members of the TBA Leadership Law (TBALL) class. All 33 members of the leadership training program met for one final session last week during the TBA’s Annual Convention in Memphis. Taylor was presented with the award during the group’s graduation ceremony on Friday. The award is named for former TBA president Larry D. Wilks and recognizes a TBALL class member who exhibits exceptional leadership qualities.

Knoxville attorney Tasha C. Blakney will take office as president-elect of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) tomorrow during the group’s annual convention in Memphis. A partner at Eldridge & Blakney PC in Knoxville, she earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law and has more than 20 years of experience in the legal profession. She has also been an active member of the TBA, serving in a variety of positions with the association, including second district governor for the TBA’s Board of Governors, co-chair of the Public Education Committee, member of the TBA’s House of Delegates and executive committee member of the Environmental Law Section. Blakney will assume the presidency of the TBA in 2022.

Germantown attorney James “Jim” Barry will take office as vice president of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) on Friday during the group’s annual convention in Memphis. Barry, who will advance to the presidency in 2023, has long been active in the TBA, serving on the Board of Governors, as chair of the Access to Justice Committee and as co-chair for many years of the TBA’s Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative. Outside of the TBA, Barry has held leadership roles with the Association of Corporate Counsel, Community Legal Center in Memphis, Memphis Area Legal Services, Memphis Bar Association, Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and Tennessee Justice Center.

The Tennessee Bar Association this week will honor Hamblen County Assistant Public Defender Willie Santana with the Claudia Jack Award for his work promoting criminal justice reform. His case challenging bail practices in Hamblen County has "sent ripples throughout the criminal justice community in Tennessee,” former TBA President Buck Lewis wrote in his nomination of Santana. “Judges are beginning to focus upon whether their practices are legal and whether the system of cash bail, even legally imposed, makes sense for the taxpayers, the courts, and the accused." Santana also authored "Cash on the Barrelhead" in the July/August 2020 issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal, which also brought awareness to the issue. The award will be presented Friday during the TBA Annual Convention in Memphis.

The Tennessee Bar Association next week will honor Marc Perrusquia with its Fourth Estate Award for his reporting on complaints of excessive use of force by the Memphis Police Department. The award will be presented June 18 during the TBA’s annual convention in Memphis. A long-time reporter at the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Perrusquia is currently the director of the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis. His reporting on this issue in the Daily Memphian resulted in policy changes at the MPD and greater transparency in its reporting on complaints of excessive use of force.

Memphis attorneys AC and Ruby Wharton will be honored next week with the presentation of the TBA YLD Fellows William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award. “AC and Ruby Wharton are the embodiment of excellence in service to the profession, the legal system and our community,” Fellows President and Memphis attorney Danny Van Horn says of the pair. “Each has contributed in their own way to the life of our profession, our community and the people we serve. They are the embodiment of 1 plus 1 can equal 3.” The Leech Public Service Award will be presented during the Tennessee Bar Association's Lawyers Luncheon on June 18.

Chief District Judge Pamela L. Reeves will be honored posthumously this month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) prestigious Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award. Her family will accept the award in her honor during the Tennessee Bar Association’s Lawyers Luncheon on June 18 at its annual convention in Memphis. Named in honor of former Tennessee Chief Justice Frank Drowota, the Drowota Award is the TBA’s highest award for service to the judiciary and has been given annually for more than a decade.