Attorney Pamela Fleenor can recall the turning point that led to her practicing and teaching law. It’s one of those moments that make one wonder, “What if that hadn’t happened?” “I was going to be a pediatrician or a dentist, so I had majored in biology and minored in chemistry at UTC, and I was burned out on the labs.
To go to medical school, you have to basically take a review course to pass the exam. So, I was pulling the documents for that, and they’re a monster. And next to them was an itty-bitty slot for the LSAT. “I thought, ‘What’s that?’ It looked like an IQ test. So I took that while I was getting ready to do the other thing, and I did really well and got a scholarship, so that’s the path I decided to take.” Fleenor earned her Juris Doctor degree at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, and then returned home. She wanted to be either a trial lawyer or a tax attorney, so when Luther Anderson told her they’d put her in the courtroom the first day she had her bar license, she took the job. While at Luther, Fleenor did mostly insurance defense litigation. In time, she decided to broaden her experience, so she accepted an offer to practice business litigation at Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison.
Fleenor worked at Grant for several years, became a partner, and then took a five-year sabbatical to have two children with her husband, Philip Fleenor, a partner at Duncan, Hatcher, Hixson & Fleenor. “That was good for all of us. It takes a lot of the stress of out of life, especially since my husband is an attorney, and didn’t know when he’d be getting home. Someone has to take care of the kids, and it can be either a nanny or one of the parents. But it was rewarding for me,” she says. Her son, Griff, is now 17, while her daughter, Michelle, is 16. When Fleenor returned to the work force, she practiced law and regulatory compliance at Cornerstone Community Bank. In time, she joined Duncan. Being a trial attorney suits Fleenor, as she enjoys being in front of a jury and likes speaking in public. She also appears to have enough fortitude to maintain a level head during a trial. “You can’t be afraid of a judge calling you down. When that happens, you have to realize it’s not personal. And you have to be confident. Preparation is the key to that.
There will be surprises, because that’s life, but you have to be relaxed and roll with the punches,” she says. Fleenor’s proclivity for public speaking also serves her well in the college classroom. She currently teaches in the paralegal program at Chattanooga State and in the masters of accountancy program at UTC. Her repertoire includes business law, insurance law and other topics. “I enjoy being in a classroom. And I like to encourage students. They need that. They need someone to tell them, ‘This will work. You can go this route.’ Many students get discouraged and quit school because life gets difficult. But life without an education is even more difficult,” she says. In an attempt to keep her undergraduate students motivated, Fleenor says she tries to help them look beyond the immediate obstacles they face to the success they can experience down the road. Although her graduate students are motivated, she says she still makes a point of encouraging them, as most of them work all day and then take three-hour classes at night. “I try to make what I teach relevant to them. I want them to understand why they’re in school and that they’re on the right path,” she says.
Practicing law and raising children are both time consuming, so Fleenor’s involvement in her community has centered on the activities in which her children have participated. To that end, she’s coached her daughter’s soccer and softball teams, served as an officer in the Lookout Mountain Elementary School PTA, and taught Sunday school at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian. “Whatever my children were doing, that’s what I did,” she says.
Although Fleenor’s children are older, she still takes advantage of every opportunity to be with them. Even vacations usually involve a tennis resort - and a lot of friendly competition. Work is always nipping at Fleenor’s heels, though, especially since she’s in the early stages of developing her practice at Duncan. In addition to focusing on her areas of expertise, she’s taking on minor criminal cases so the firm no longer has to refer potential clients elsewhere.
Moving forward, Fleenor plans to remain where she is and continue to grow as an attorney. She knows she chose her career wisely, and never wonders what her life would be like if she hadn’t seen that “itty-bitty slot for the LSAT” at the placement office at UTC. “People sometimes wonder if they made the right choice. I know I did. Had I gone the medical or dental route, I couldn’t have stopped practicing medicine for five years to be with my children. Not everyone has the opportunity to do that, and not everyone chooses to do it, but that was the right choice for our family.”