TBA to recognize Buz Dooley at luncheon ceremony Saturday

NASHVILLE, Jan. 16, 2014 — Chattanooga lawyer Charles “Buz” Dooley will be honored with the state’s top pro bono award for his volunteer work with Legal Aid of East Tennessee at a luncheon ceremony Saturday in Nashville.

The award will be presented by the Tennessee Bar Association at its 2014 Public Service Luncheon at the War Memorial Auditorium. Held each year as part of the association’s Leadership Conference, the luncheon features honorees in several categories and will include an address by Clarksville Mayor and former Tennessee House Majority Leader Kim McMillan. TBA President Cindy Wyrick also will deliver remarks at the luncheon.  

Dooley will receive the Harris Gilbert Pro Bono Volunteer of the Year Award, which is given annually to a private sector attorney who has demonstrated dedication to legal services for the poor and has performed significant pro bono work. He is being recognized for his volunteer work with Legal Aid of East Tennessee (LAET) in Chattanooga.

Charles McDaniel, who nominated Dooley for the award, says, “Buz Dooley is exponentially the most active pro bono attorney in Chattanooga, both in terms of time donated and clients served.” McDaniel, who is Southern Region pro bono project director for LAET, explains: “Dooley goes to LAET every Wednesday morning without fail, to meet with clients, offer advice and, when needed, make phone calls to line up other attorneys to take the cases. On average, Buz meets with almost 200 clients a year, usually spending over an hour with each — an unmatched level of dedication to pro bono. Buz is truly the best friend low-income, elderly and abused Chattanoogans have.”

Dooley is with the Chattanooga law firm of Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan. He earned his law degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford and served as the president of the Chattanooga Bar Association from 1991-1992.

The Pro Bono Volunteer award is named for Nashville attorney Harris A. Gilbert, who served as president of the TBA from 1994-1995 and whose dedication to legal services for the poor set a high standard for all Tennessee attorneys. Gilbert will be on hand for the ceremony to present the award to Dooley along with Alexandra MacKay, chair of the TBA’s Access to Justice Committee and member in the Nashville office of Stites & Harbison.