George T. 'Buck' Lewis Honored with NLADA Award Recognizing Outstanding Contributions to Advancing Justice

The award, presented at the NLADA Annual Conference Awards Luncheon on November 6, recognizes Mr. Lewis' career-long commitment to promoting access to justice initiatives across the country. He is a past chair of the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and the American Bar Association (ABA) Pro Bono and Public Service Committee, and former president of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) and Memphis Bar Foundation. During his tenure as TBA president, Mr. Lewis was instrumental in launching Tennessee Free Legal Answers - an online legal clinic allowing clients to post legal needs and attorneys to assist through email - and later taking the project nationwide through ABA Free Legal Answers. The national virtual legal advice platform this year celebrated its ten-year anniversary and reached the benchmark of responding to more than 500,000 total questions.

Mr. Lewis also founded and provided initial funding for the Justice Frank F. Drowota Trust, a charitable fund to support organizations providing legal services to low-income individuals in Tennessee. It is the only long-term philanthropic vehicle of its kind in the country. His leadership of the fundraising efforts has resulted in $500,000 in direct donations and $2.5 million in bequests.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee (now Winston) College of Law, Mr. Lewis is the Larry Wilks Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at Winston College of Law and co-founder of the Pamela Reeves Institute for Professional Leadership. He has practiced with Baker Donelson for 45 years.