The Justice Joe W. Henry Memorial Award for Outstanding Legal Writing

We’re celebrating the Tennessee Bar Journal’s first 40 years all year! In each issue we will look back at an area of life in the law to see how the TBJ covered it. This month we examine the Journal’s writing competition, the Justice Joe W. Henry Memorial Award for Outstanding Legal Writing.

Twenty-four years ago — after 16 years of Tennessee Bar Journals — writers who were filling up its pages were given another incentive to write besides the fame and fortune that usually follows publication in the Journal .

An award was established to honor the “lawyer who writes the most outstanding article that is published in the Tennessee Bar Journal,” wrote Ronald Lee Gilman in announcing the award in 1982. “The purpose of the award is to encourage practicing Tennessee lawyers to write scholarly yet practical articles for the Journal that will be of maximum benefit to the members of our bar.”

To be eligible for the award the writer had to be a TBA member “primarily engaged in active legal practice.” Full-time judges and faculty were not in the running, although their submissions “will continue to be encouraged.”

The award was established by the TBA Board of Governors, on the recommendation of the Publications Committee. Gilman was its chair that year, 1982. The first award was given in 1982, but encompassed articles from fiscal 1981-82. In 1987, the competition was judged using articles based on a calendar year.

This award is unusual in that the winner receives $500 with the plaque, the only TBA award to do so.

We’re celebrating the Tennessee Bar Journal’s first 40 years all year! In each issue we will look back at an area of life in the law to see how the TBJ covered it. This month we examine the Journal ’s writing competition, the Justice Joe W. Henry Memorial Award for Outstanding Legal Writing.

Twenty-four years ago — after 16 years of Tennessee Bar Journals — writers who were filling up its pages were given another incentive to write besides the fame and fortune that usually follows publication in the Journal.

An award was established to honor the “lawyer who writes the most outstanding article that is published in the Tennessee Bar Journal ,” wrote Ronald Lee Gilman in announcing the award in 1982. “The purpose of the award is to encourage practicing Tennessee lawyers to write scholarly yet practical articles for the Journal that will be of maximum benefit to the members of our bar.”

To be eligible for the award the writer had to be a TBA member “primarily engaged in active legal practice.” Full-time judges and faculty were not in the running, although their submissions “will continue to be encouraged.”

The award was established by the TBA Board of Governors, on the recommendation of the Publications Committee. Gilman was its chair that year, 1982. The first award was given in 1982, but encompassed articles from fiscal 1981-82. In 1987, the competition was judged using articles based on a calendar year.

This award is unusual in that the winner receives $500 with the plaque, the only TBA award to do so.

The Judging

Three people always judge the Joe Henry Award, as set up by the board in 1982: the president of the TBA; the chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, or an appellate judge designated by the chief justice; and the dean of Memphis State, University of Tennessee or Vanderbilt law schools (on a rotating basis), or a faculty member designated by the dean.

This year’s competition was judged by TBA President Charles Swanson, Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota and Dean Tom Galligan of UT.

Its Namesake

The award was named for the late chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Joe W. Henry, “a practicing lawyer, a scholar, and a writer with a rare talent for clear, forceful and often dramatic wording,” the announcement says. Henry was elected to the court in 1974 and died June 9, 1980.

Guidelines

To be considered, articles (in addition to the author meeting the criteria) “are expected to be wellwritten, practical (either as a concise guide to a substantive legal area or a “how-to-do-it” example of legal work), and of general interest to the Tennessee bar.”

Still Working for Us

It’s not coincidence that many of these winners are still writing for the Journal . They’re that good. Most of the magazine’s columnists are former Joe Henry winners: Dan Holbrook, who writes “Where There’s a Will,” Don Paine, who writes “Paine on Procedure,” David Raybin, who writes “Criminal Law,” and Tim Bland, who writes “Take This Job.”

The Competition

When the award began, the Journal was quarterly. There were about 11 articles considered for the award. It soon became bimonthly, pushing the number of eligible articles up. In this year’s competition, which encompasses 12 issues, there were closer to 20 articles considered.

We Have a Winner!

Who won the Joe Henry Award this year? We can’t say. If you are at the Lawyers Luncheon, June 17, during the TBA Annual Convention in Knoxville, you will find out. If you can’t make it there, pick up the July Tennessee Bar Journal to learn which was the best article of 2004.

—Suzanne Craig Robertson

The Judging

Three people always judge the Joe Henry Award, as set up by the board in 1982: the president of the TBA; the chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, or an appellate judge designated by the chief justice; and the dean of Memphis State, University of Tennessee or Vanderbilt law schools (on a rotating basis), or a faculty member designated by the dean.

This year’s competition was judged by TBA President Charles Swanson, Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota and Dean Tom Galligan of UT.

Its Namesake

The award was named for the late chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Joe W. Henry, “a practicing lawyer, a scholar, and a writer with a rare talent for clear, forceful and often dramatic wording,” the announcement says. Henry was elected to the court in 1974 and died June 9, 1980.

Guidelines

To be considered, articles (in addition to the author meeting the criteria) “are expected to be wellwritten, practical (either as a concise guide to a substantive legal area or a “how-to-do-it” example of legal work), and of general interest to the Tennessee bar.”

Still Working for Us

It’s not coincidence that many of these winners are still writing for the Journal. They’re that good. Most of the magazine’s columnists are former Joe Henry winners: Dan Holbrook, who writes “Where There’s a Will,” Don Paine, who writes “Paine on Procedure,” David Raybin, who writes “Criminal Law,” and Tim Bland, who writes “Take This Job.”

The Competition

When the award began, the Journal was quarterly. There were about 11 articles considered for the award. It soon became bimonthly, pushing the number of eligible articles up. In this year’s competition, which encompasses 12 issues, there were closer to 20 articles considered.

We Have a Winner!

Who won the Joe Henry Award this year? We can’t say. If you are at the Lawyers Luncheon, June 17, during the TBA Annual Convention in Knoxville, you will find out. If you can’t make it there, pick up the July Tennessee Bar Journal to learn which was the best article of 2004.

—Suzanne Craig Robertson