James "Jim" O. Phillips III of Rogersville died April 18 at the age of 78. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Phillips earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. He opened a law office in Rogersville and also served as the Hawkins County attorney for 36 years, the longest serving in county history. Phillips served as president of the Rotary Club of Rogersville and was an elder at Rogersville Presbyterian Church. Memorials donations may be given to the Hawkins County Imagination Library, P.O. Box 512, Rogersville, TN 37857 or the Hawkins County Humane Society, 5180 US-11W, Rogersville, TN 37857.

Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Waugh Crigler died April 26 at age 74. A resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, Waugh earned his law degree in 1973 from the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he was a member of the Tennessee Law Review and was admitted to the Order of the Coif and the Legal Honor Society Phi Delta Phi. Waugh joined the chambers of the Hon. Robert Taylor in the Eastern District of Tennessee as a law clerk and later practiced in Culpeper, Virginia, in what became Davies, Crigler, Barrell and Will PC. In 1981, he was appointed U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Virginia, a position he held until his retirement in 2013.

Prominent Nashville attorney Ward DeWitt Jr. died Tuesday at age 97. A Nashville native, he entered the Navy's V-12 program for officer training at Tulane University in 1943, and was later training for the invasion of Japan when the Japanese surrendered in August 1945. After the war, he remained in the Navy and in July 1946 witnessed test explosions of two atomic bombs at Bikini Island in the Pacific. After leaving the Navy, DeWitt returned to Nashville, graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1948 and Vanderbilt Law School in 1951. He was a partner in the firm of Trabue, Minick, Sturdivant and Harbison, which became Trabue, Sturdivant and DeWitt, and later merged with Miller and Martin. DeWitt also served a term in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1955-1956. A memorial service will be held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3900 West End Ave., Nashville, this Saturday at 1 p.m. CDT. Visitation is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Memorial contributions can be made to Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Memphis attorney Brenda Oats-Williams died April 24. She graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1994 and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 1997. She worked at Memphis Area Legal Services and in private practice focusing on consumer protection and landlord tenant law. She was co-owner of the Lady Lawyers Law Firm in downtown Memphis. Funeral services will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. CDT at Greater Middle Baptist Church, 4982 Knight Arnold Rd., Memphis 38118. Visitation will begin at 9 a.m. at the church.

Knoxville lawyer Frank Henry Marsh Jr. died on April 21 at the age of 94. After serving in the Pacific Theatre and Korea as a member of the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, Marsh attended the University of Tennessee College of Law. Following graduation, he opened a law practice in Knoxville. In his early career, he also managed U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver's campaigns in Knox County and was city trial attorney. After practicing law for 25 years, Marsh returned to the university and earned a doctor of philosophy with a focus in bioethics. He then began a second career as a professor at the University of Colorado and its school of medicine. He retired from the school in 1992 and joined the Department of Philosophy at UT Knoxville. Between the ages of 80 and 82, he wrote two fiction books. A private family service was held at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Memorial donations may be made to the church’s Habitat for Humanity program, 6500 Northshore Dr., Knoxville, TN 37919 or Doctors Without Borders.

Services for attorney Thomas Ivo Carlton Jr., 85, will be held on Saturday at 10 a.m., preceded by a visitation from 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. at Saint Henry Church, 6401 Harding Road, Nashville, TN 37205. Carlton graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1960 and  the Nashville School of Law in 1965, where he later instructed Moot Court. Carlton was a partner at Cornelius & Collins, where he practiced until retiring in 2022. Read more about Carlton’s life and career.

Funeral services will be held Sunday for Arthur Massey Fowler Jr. at 2 p.m EDT at First Presbyterian Church, 105 South Boone St., Johnson City. Since 1973, Fowler practiced law in Memphis and Johnson City with a focus on civil litigation, business, estate and probate matters. The family will receive friends following the funeral service in the church fellowship hall. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to First Presbyterian Church or the Art Fowler Boys and Girls State Scholarship Fund, care of The American Legion, 409 E. Market St., Johnson City, TN 37601. Memories and condolences may be shared with the Fowler family via the Morris Baker Funeral Home. Read more about Fowler's life from the Johnson City Press.

Memphis lawyer George Washington Graham Sr. died recently at the age of 69. Originally from St. Louis, Graham earned his law degree from St. Louis University and worked as a lawyer and certified public accountant in Missouri and Tennessee. Graham was a partner with Goins, Graham, and Associates in Memphis and worked as senior assistant attorney for the city for more than 15 years. Read more about his life in this post from the Memphis Bar Association.

Funeral services will be held next Friday for former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice William Muecke Barker. Visitation will take place at 10 a.m., followed by a funeral at 11 a.m. and a reception at noon EDT at First Presbyterian Church. Interment will be a private ceremony at the National Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Foundation, 615 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403, or First Presbyterian Church World Missions, 554 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403. Barker, known as “Mickey” to his friends, died Monday at the age of 81. Read more about his life from Chattanoogan.com.

Former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William Muecke Barker died Monday morning at the age of 81. Barker, from Chattanooga, spent 25 years on the judicial bench and 10 as a justice on the state Supreme Court. His experience included service with the Deetsen Firm, as circuit court judge in Hamilton County and on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. He was named to the Supreme Court in 1998 and retired in 2008. He then joined the Chambliss Law Firm, where he served until fully retiring in 2021. Barker is a former president of the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association and is a fellow of both the Chattanooga Bar Foundation and the Tennessee Bar Foundation. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more on his life. Funeral details are pending.