NASHVILLE, May 15, 2024 — Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Holly Kirby will be honored next month with the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) prestigious Justice Frank F. Drowota III Award. The award will be presented at the Bench Bar Luncheon set for June 13 as part of the association’s Annual Convention in Memphis.

In announcing this year’s recipient, TBA President Jim Barry said the association is honoring Kirby for her efforts spearheading an increase in the hourly rate of reimbursement for attorneys who accept appointed cases, which often involve indigent families and children, as well as sensitive issues such as allegations of dependency, neglect and child abuse. Before this year, Tennessee’s court-appointed attorneys had not seen a rate increase in 27 years, while the costs of maintaining a legal practice have continued to rise. This has resulted in a “perfect storm” where fewer and fewer attorneys can afford to take these types of cases. In October 2023, Kirby made the case for increasing compensation for attorneys representing the indigent and announced the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) was requesting additional funding from the legislature. AOC Executive Director Michelle Long also testified before the legislature this spring about the need.

Thanks to Justice Kirby’s advocacy on the need to increase compensation for court-appointed attorneys representing the indigent, the General Assembly included funding in the budget to raise the rate by $10 an hour. This fell short of the AOC’s full budget request but was an important first step. “The TBA is especially grateful to Chief Justice Holly Kirby for her leadership and partnership in helping spotlight this critical issue,” Barry said. “It must be financially feasible for court-appointed attorneys to continue representing some of the state’s most vulnerable residents or the entire judicial system will suffer. The TBA remains committed to working with the Supreme Court and other stakeholders to secure additional resources to fairly compensate lawyers who do this important work.”

Kirby was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2014 by then Gov. Bill Haslam. She was elected by her colleagues as chief justice in 2023. Before joining the state’s highest court, Kirby made history as the first woman in the state to be named to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, where she served for almost 19 years.

A lifelong Tennessean, Kirby was born in Memphis, graduated from the University of Memphis with a degree in mechanical engineering and earned her law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law in 1982. Following graduation, she served as a law clerk to Judge Harry Wellford on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. She later joined the Memphis law firm of Burch, Porter & Johnson, focusing on employment litigation. She was named the firm’s first female partner in 1990. She remained at the firm until being named to the Court of Appeals in 1995.

Kirby has been an active member of the state’s legal community. From 1989-1994, she served on the Tennessee Appellate Court Nominating Commission, completing her service as chair of the commission in 1994. From 1998-2012, she served on an ethics panel for the Court of the Judiciary and then as a member of the Board of Judicial Conduct from 2012-2014. She is also a member of the Memphis-based Leo Bearman Sr. American Inn of Court.

Awards Kirby has received include Outstanding Young Alumna for the University of Memphis, Special Distinguished Alumna for the University of Memphis School of Law, Marion Griffin-Frances Loring Award from the Memphis Association for Women Attorneys, the Distinguished Leadership Award from Women in Numbers, and Community Mother of the Year by the Tennessee Justice Center. She is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, Tennessee Bar Foundation, Tennessee Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, and Memphis and Shelby County Bar Foundation.

The Drowota Award is given to a judge or judicial branch official of a federal, state or local court in Tennessee who has demonstrated extraordinary devotion and dedication to the improvement of the law, the legal system and the administration of justice as exemplified by the career of former Supreme Court Justice Frank F. Drowota III – the award’s first recipient. It is the TBA’s highest award for service to the judiciary and has been given annually for more than a decade.

Read more about Kirby’s career accomplishments

Learn more about the funding for indigent representation

The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) is the largest professional association in Tennessee with nearly 14,000 members. Founded in 1881, the TBA represents the entire spectrum of the legal profession in Tennessee and beyond and is dedicated to enhancing fellowship and professionalism among the members of Tennessee’s legal community.