Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 12, 2010
Tennessee Bar elects attorney Dana Perry as a Fellow
David Laprad
Not long ago, Dana Perry, managing partner at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, received an envelop through the U.S. Postal Service. When she opened it and read that the Tennessee Bar Foundation had elected her as a Fellow of the association, she thought the letter had been addressed to the wrong person.
“It was a shock,” she says. “I know the caliber of the attorneys the Bar has inducted as Fellows, and there are a lot of great lawyers in Chattanooga, so I wondered if I deserved the honor.”
The Bar Foundation, an association of 678 attorneys across the state, exists to honor attorneys who have distinguished themselves in their profession and to administer a grant-making program that supports law-related public interest projects. Its Board of Trustees extended membership invitations to 35 attorneys this year.
Perry says her induction at the annual Fellows’ Dinner on January 15 in Nashville humbled her. But one does not have to think long and hard to understand why the Bar Foundation selected her or whether she was worthy of the distinction. All one needs to do is look at where Perry began, where she is today and the kind of lawyer she’s become.
Perry’s journey began at age 3 in Brookhaven, Miss., where she and her parents lived until she graduated from high school. While she calls the small town a wonderful place, she says she was eager to get out and see the larger world.
As Perry had already developed an interest in the law, she knew she wanted to continue her education. Her parents were public school teachers, however, so her family didn’t have enough money to pay for college. Undeterred, she took the advice of the minister at the Episcopalian Church she and her parents attended and applied for a scholarship to the University of the South, one of the nation’s top-rated liberal arts colleges.
When Perry received the letter informing her she’d received the scholarship, she didn’t wonder if the school — better known as Sewanee — had addressed the envelop to the right person; she rejoiced. “My parents made a lot of sacrifices,” she says, “but I could not have attended Sewanne without help.”
At Sewanne, Perry majored in American history. She then received her law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1988. Chambliss hired Perry fresh out of school to work in the area of estate planning.
Looking back, Perry says she was “quite wet behind the ears” when she arrived at Chambliss and that she appreciated the patience of the firm’s seasoned attorneys, as their mentoring helped to solidify her skills.
“We no longer have enough time to help our young lawyers learn the ropes,” she says. “But I can remember many times during my first two years when Kirk Snouffer, an attorney who passed away recently, took me aside with a will I’d drafted and there was a lot of red ink from where he’d gone through it. That’s how I learned to do my job.”
Perry’s education continued as her career at Chambliss progressed. “I liked estate planning, and as I developed in that field, my interactions with older clients intrigued me,” she says. “Then around 1995, Tennessee began encouraging lawyers to become certified, and one of the first areas the state offered was elder law certification. I decided to go for it.”
Today, Perry is certified as an elder law specialist through the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization. She says the process to obtain her certification was rigorous but worth it, so she continues to receive additional training in elder law. “A lot of fine lawyers have chosen to not go the certification route, but since it helps me keep up my skills, I’ve elected to keep doing it,” she says.
Perry has also chosen to share her expertise through lectures and speaking engagements. Recent topics on which she’s spoken include “End of Life Planning: Major Considerations” and “Elder Law 101: Navigating the Long-Term Care Maze.”
Although Perry’s work tends to be challenging, it’s also satisfying, she says. She enjoys explaining complicated issues to her clients and helping them to fashion plans that will preserve their estates and prevent trouble later on. “I focus on avoiding family disagreements and run-ins with the court, and saving my clients money, time and problems if someone gets sick or passes away.”
Perry especially enjoys assisting her clients in ways they never expected. For example, she’s helped several veterans of World War II and the Korean War secure benefits they didn’t know existed. “When that happens, I feel like I’m doing something good for someone who defended our country,” she says.
As a lawyer and a speaker, Perry has been a tremendous help to her clients and other individuals, but as a sustaining member of the Junior League of Chattanooga and a graduate of the 1997 class of Leadership Chattanooga, Perry has also contributed to the betterment of her community.
Perry’s main concern when she’s not working, however, is her family. She says she enjoys spending time with her husband, Charles, a professor at Sewanne, and keeping in touch with her adult stepchildren, Sam and Melissa. “My husband is patient with the long hours I work, so when I’m not in the office, my number one priority is spending time with him,” she says.
When Perry and her husband are together, they like to take trips, with memories of recent vacations to New York City and Florence, Italy bringing a smile to Perry’s face. “I love going to art museums,” she says. “When you’re exposed to a culture other than yours, it enriches you. Plus, my work is analytical, so when I’m not in the office, I like to engage a different part of my brain and pursue more creative endeavors, like art, music and travel.”
The work Perry has done at Chambliss and her many accomplishments as an attorney — which include being listed in “The Best Lawyers in America” and “Mid-South Super Lawyers” — are a testament to her worthiness of becoming a Fellow. But so is the humility of which she spoke when she mentioned opening the letter from the Bar Foundation. For instance, when asked how she’s been able to accomplish so much, she gives credit to her firm.
“The good people I’ve had the pleasure of working with and training under have molded me as a lawyer,” she says. “I’m also grateful to my firm for its support through the years.”
Perry mentions several names, including Jack Chambliss, Glenn Stophel, Max Bahner and others, saying she owes a debt of gratitude to each one. But there are many people who feel the same way about Perry, including clients who came to her as they approached the end of their journey through life. And that’s why the letter she received from the Bar Foundation was addressed to the right person.
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