Division elects new vice president, honors two young lawyers

KNOXVILLE, June 17, 2005 — The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) Young Lawyers Division (YLD) elected new leadership and honored a number of attorneys during the association’s annual convention in Knoxville.

Memphis lawyer Daniel Van Horn assumed the office of president of the YLD and Springfield attorney Lisa Sherrill Richter moved into the position of president-elect. Van Horn practices in the Memphis office of Armstrong Allen as a commercial business litigator. He graduated from the Vanderbilt University Law School in 1997 and has been active in the TBA as well as the American Bar Association. Richter practices domestic law in the Law Offices of Larry D. Wilks. She was elected vice president of the YLD in 2004 and is a 1994 graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law.

The YLD elected Knoxville lawyer Jason Long of London & Amburn PC as the organization’s new vice president. A Knoxville native, Long received his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1996. In law school, he was a two-time member of the National Moot Court Team and recipient of the George McClung medal for achievement in advocacy. In addition to representing clients at his firm, Long serves as an adjunct faculty member at the College of Law teaching legal writing. Long has been active in the TBA and the YLD for a number of years. This past year he served as editor of the young lawyers magazine, The Quarterly. Long will automatically rise to the office of president-elect next year and to the office of president the following year.

Outgoing YLD President Cynthia Richardson Wyrick of Ogle, Gass & Richardson in Sevierville also honored two lawyers at the division’s annual meeting. Jonathan O. Steen of Jackson received special lifetime recognition for service to the Young Lawyers Division. A former president of the YLD, Steen continued to be active this year, developing a new continuing legal education seminar for young attorneys, serving as a liaison between the YLD and the YLD Fellows – a group formed to support the development of young lawyers in the state, and providing guidance and encouragement to the YLD leadership. Steen practices in the Jackson office of Armstrong Allen. He received his law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1992.

Wyrick presented the President’s Award to Laura A. Steel for her work as chair of the division’s Law School Outreach Committee. Steel practices labor and employment law at Hunter Smith & Davis in Kingsport and earned her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1999. As chair of the Law School Outreach Committee, Steel developed programs and social activities for students at Tennessee’s law schools and served as a resource for law students seeking career development advice.