Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 25, 2010
Chattanooga Bar Foundation inducts new Fellows
David Laprad
An 18th century Lutheran bishop and hymn writer said, “True charity is the desire to be useful to others without thought of recompense.” His statement applies to many of the legal professionals working in Chattanooga, including the men and women of the Chattanooga Bar Foundation.
The Foundation is the charitable and educational arm
of the Chattanooga Bar Asso-ciation. Incorporated in 1989, the organization supports worthwhile charities and participates in community service, outreach programs and educational projects. The funding for these efforts comes from the Fellows themselves.
Each year, the Foundation selects a limited number of new Fellows. To be honored as a Fellow, a lawyer must be a member of the Chattanooga Bar, at least 35-years-old and licensed. He or she must also have been practicing law for at least ten years. Only lawyers deemed to have outstanding records of service to the Bar and the community are eligible.
New Fellows in 2010 include:
Judge Barry Steelman
Judge Barry Steelman is a graduate of Red Bank High School, Carson-Newman College and the University of Tennessee College of Law. After being admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1989, he practiced civil litigation at the law firm of Spears, Moore, Rebman & Williams.
In 1995, Steelman was hired by then-District Attorney Gary Gerbitz as a prosecutor in Hamilton County’s criminal courts. After the election of Bill Cox as district attorney in 1996, he was assigned to the position of managing prosecutor in Criminal Court Division III. In both positions, he was responsible for the prosecution of felony and misdemeanor offenses in criminal and municipal courts.
Steelman was later promoted to the position of executive assistant district attorney. In this role, he served as a leading trial lawyer and office administrator for the district attorney. His jury trial experience included capital and life-without-parole cases.
In 2006, Steelman was elected Criminal Court Judge, Division I, Hamilton County, where he continues to serve.
Steelman’s commitment to serving the community extends beyond the courthouse. He has coached numerous youth sports teams and is active in church, having served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher and choir member. He’s also served as the president of the Chattanooga Bar and is a member of the Rotary Club.
Phillip Noblett
Phillip Noblett received a B.A. with honors from the University of Tennessee at
Knoxville in 1978. He received his J.D. degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in 1982. After receiving his law degree, he served as a law clerk to Judge Lloyd Tatum for the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals from 1982-1983.
Noblett came to Chatta-nooga in 1983 and was hired by attorney Harry Weill to work on personal injury and products liability cases for the law firm of Weill, Ellis, Weems & Copeland. In 1985, Noblett was hired to work as a part-time litigator for the city attorney. He maintained his litigation practice with Randall Nelson and Mike McMahan from 1985-2009, when he became the deputy city attorney for Chattanooga.
Noblett has represented Chattanooga, Signal Mountain and numerous private and governmental clients in numerous litigation matters in state and federal courts over the past 25 years. He’s also tried many high profile media trials as lead counsel since 1985 for Chattanooga.
Noblett is a member of the Chattanooga Bar and the Tennessee Municipal Attorney Association. He was president of the former in 1994. He’s been an active speaker for continuing legal education topics in this community and state.
Noblett lives in Signal Mountain with his wife and three children. He’s active in his community and church. He currently spends much of his time on litigation and advice for the employees and elected officials of Chattanooga. He’s also the attorney for Signal Mountain.
Allen McCallie
Allen McCallie is a native Chattanoogan and graduate of the University of Virginia both for college (1977) and law school (1980). His practice is focused on areas of real estate, tax exempt organizations, conservation law and public and private nonprofit development ventures.
He’s also counsel for the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority. He has a broad range of experience in commercial real estate projects and has worked on unique public and private partnership ventures involving the revitalization of downtown Chatta-nooga through projects such as the Tennessee Aquarium and Tennessee Riverpark.
He’s served as Tennessee counsel for the Trust for Public Land, and continues to work with many of Chattanooga’s local land trusts and conservation organizations.
McCallie has served as chairman of the Lyndhurst Foundation and a board member of McCallie School, the Tonya Memorial Foundation, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Tennessee River Gorge Trust.
David Noblit
Born in Chattanooga, David Noblit graduated with a B.S. from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and received his J.D. from Memphis State University in 1979. He was a member of the UTC wrestling team for four years, and was a member of the team that won the championship of the Southeast Region in 1976.
Noblit has been with the firm of Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan since 1979. He’s been engaged as a litigation attorney and has been listed as a Rule 31 Mediator by the Supreme Court of Tennessee since 2000. His clients have included individuals, Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and insurance companies.
Noblit’s other professional and honorary associations include the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bars, the Georgia Bar, the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association, the International Association of Defense Counsel and the Trial Attorneys of America.
Noblit has also been active in his community as a youth wrestling coach and an alumni leader for UTC. He and his wife, Jennifer, have five adult children.
John Higgason Jr.
John Higgason Jr. obtained his law degree from the Cecil B. Humphrey School of Law at the University of Memphis in 1975 after receiving his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University in 1972.
In 1995, Higgason was approved by the Tennessee Supreme Court as a Rule 31 general civil mediator. Currently, he’s associated with Arbitration and Mediation Services of Chattanooga.
Through the years, Higgason has served as a special judge for all civil courts in Hamilton County, including Circuit, Chancery and General Sessions. He’s also been called upon to serve as a Special Master at the request of the judges in Circuit Court and Chancery Court in Hamilton County. He currently serves as the Municipal Court Judge for Lookout Mountain.
Higgason recently closed his law practice after serving as Of Counsel with the law firm of Burnette, Dobson & Pinchak since 1999 in order to concentrate on mediation and arbitration full time.
Higgason is a member of the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bars and the Tennessee Municipal Judges Conference. He’s also served on the advisory board of Tennessee Donor Services Tissue Bank and Tennessee Donor Services.
Higgason and his wife, Connie, reside in Lookout Mountain and are communicants of the Church of The Good Shepherd.
Phillip Lawrence
Phillip Lawrence received his J.D. degree from University of Tennessee School of Law School in 1969. He and his wife, Jennifer, practice together at their firm, Lawrence & Lawrence, in the historic Carnegie Building.
Lawrence is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the American Trial Lawyers Association and the Tennessee Bar Foundation. He’s also a member of the American Association for Justice, the Tennessee Association for Justice and the American, Tennessee and Chattanooga Bars.
Milestones in Lawrence’s practice have been his appearance at argument before the United States Supreme Court in the case of Paty v. McDaniel, which involved the constitutionality of a statue excluding ministers from qualifying as candidates for certain public offices. In addition, he was co-counsel in the defense of the accused in a case involving a triple slaying in Signal Mountain. The crime was featured on the television shows “Unsolved Mysteries” and “City Confidential.”
In 2000, Lawrence and his wife were co-counsel in a personal injury case in which a Hamilton County jury returned a verdict for $10.5 million, the highest jury award to date by a Hamilton County jury in a personal injury case.
H. Richard Marcus
H. Richard Marcus practices as a founding member of the law firm of Franklin, Cooper & Marcus. Previously, he was a founding member of the law firm of Fleissner, Cooper & Marcus. In addition, he was vice president and general counsel for Sherwood Corporation from 1981-1982. From 1974-1980, he practiced with the law firm of Luther, Anderson & Cleary as an associate and partner.
Marcus practices general civil litigation with an emphasis on personal injury, workers’ compensation and business litigation for both plaintiffs and defendants and is a Rule 31 listed mediator affiliated with Arbitration and Mediation Services.
Marcus received a B.B. degree from the University of West Georgia in 1971 with a major in finance and a J.D. degree from Emory University School of Law in 1974.
Marcus is a member of the American, Tennessee, Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain Bars. He’s also a member of the Tennessee Association for Justice and the American Inns for the Court.
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