Pillars of Excellence Returns with a Strong Foundation

The last time the Memphis legal community had the opportunity to attend the University of Memphis Law Pillars of Excellence Dinner was in 2019. That event, the 10th such celebration, was hosted at FedExForum with a record crowd of more than 750 attendees. Honored that night were six outstanding Pillars of Excellence, with the Bobango family named as “Friend of the Law School.” Each honoree had a scholarship established in their name and accepted their award to their favorite musical song, with a special highlight of the evening coming in the form of an appearance by Jimmy Smits, star of the locallyfilmed, NBC TV show Bluff City Law, who had recently been made an honorary Memphis Law alum. On Saturday, August 20, of this year at FedExForum, law school friends, alumni and the Memphis legal community are invited to the triumphant return of the Pillars of Excellence Dinner.

This year, the University of Memphis Law School Alumni Chapter will honor the stellar accomplishments of Lee J. Chase, David J. Harris, Honorable Janice M. Holder, Allie J. Prescott and Honorable Diane K. Vescovo. All the honorees are a wonderful example of strong legal minds, unquestioned integrity, excellent mentoring skills and they each demonstrate the highest degree of professional conduct. This year’s “Friend of the Law School” is Bill Nixon, the architect for the new law school building in Downtown Memphis, who with his team orchestrated an award-winning restoration of the Federal Post Office building into one of the best law school facilities in the country. In recent years, scholarships have been established in the honorees’ names to attract the best and brightest law students to Memphis Law. This is one of the most rewarding aspects of putting on such a massive event and one that helps plant the seeds for the ongoing success of so many future Memphis Law graduates. Community leaders, friends and others have made donations and gifts to establish endowments to support the law school and leave lasting legacies for the honorees. The 2019 honorees’ scholarships garnered a record-setting $150,000 donated on their behalf.

Looking back, the history of Pillars shows a great deal of growth year-over-year, thanks to the hard work of the law school alumni chapter.

In August 2004, the law chapter held its inaugural annual dinner drawing 250 alumni, faculty and friends of the law school, more than twice the highest attendance at any of the previous annual luncheons. Building on that success, the chapter hosted its second dinner, renamed the Striving for Excellence in the Law in 2005. Keynote speaker, Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., entertained a crowd of more than 300 attendees. In 2007, the Chapter hosted the fourth annual dinner and created the Pillars of Excellence Award honoring attorneys from “America’s Greatest Generation” who made significant civic and professional contributions to the practice of law. A record crowd of more than 650 joined in celebrating 16 attorneys as Pillars of Excellence who had practiced law for more than 50 years.

Following that successful 2007 dinner, the Chapter board established the criteria for selecting honorees and renamed the event as the Pillars of Excellence Dinner in 2011. Since its inception, the Pillars of Excellence Dinner has attracted an average of 500 attendees and has raised more than $400,000 in scholarship support.

This annual celebration is a tremendous opportunity to honor outstanding and well-deserving pillars of the legal community, establish scholarships in their honor, help attract top law school students and leave a legacy for each Pillar.

2019 Pillar Guests Family and Friends of Hon. Kenny W. Armstrong 2018

2019 Photo Left to Right: R. Hunter Humphreys, John A. Bobango, Richard Glassman, Hon. Bernice B. Donald, Hon. Robert L. “Butch” Childers, Connie Lewis Lensing, Charles T. Tuggle Jr.

2019

This year’s return of the Pillars of Excellence Dinner gives the Memphis legal community a tremendous opportunity to once again honor some of the most outstanding Pillars in Memphis, as well as directly impact the success of the law school and its students, by helping establish scholarships in their honor. The legacy established by this dinner is a gift all its own. We hope to see you there.

Tickets and table sales are available for purchase at alumni.memphis.edu/pillars2022. Tables of 10: $1,700. Individual tickets: $180. Contact Gremesha Crump at gcrump@memphis.edu or 901.678.1782 for more information.

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