Whether Pro Bono or Legal Aid
The assistance must be prepaid.
By tuition and endurance to the School of Law
Hoping the recipient will be held in awe.
It’s not just advice the recipient will need
But it’s your opportunity to fulfill a creed.
Your reward will surely be forthcoming
When the satisfied client is off and running.
Don’t hesitate to apply your skill
For a result surely leaving a thrill.
Enroll now to utilize your education
In a way that will lead to someone’s elation.
Legal Aid of East Tennessee
Can mean to you what it has to me.
Giving LAET a call to further your growth
Will help to fulfill your attorney’s oath.
And answer a community and professional call
To respond to the plea of “Justice for All.”
– By Charles “Buz” Dooley
To those who know him, it should come as no surprise that Charles W. “Buz” Dooley” is a committed pro bono attorney who demonstrates the utmost respect for the clients he serves. Buz Dooley epitomizes the term “servant leader” and he has spent a lifetime of dedicated service to his county, his religion, his family and his profession.
Although he engaged in pro bono work throughout his career, in the past decade, Dooley gradually increased his involvement in Legal Aid of East Tenn., Pro Bono Project, receiving the Bruce Bailey Volunteer Lawyer Award from LAET in 2006 for dedication and effort in pro bono service.
He explains, “I have found this work to be one of the most rewarding pursuits I have experienced. The gratitude of people gaining justice from injustice, through LAET, was and has been extremely gratifying to me.”
In addition to representing low-income clients in court, Dooley volunteers at least twice per month through the pro bono intake program. In that role, he interviews indigent clients regarding their legal problems and helps pair them with a pro bono attorney who specializes in that area of law.
Legal Aid of East Tenn., and its clients are incredibly grateful for the volunteer service that Dooley provides. Russell Fowler, Associate Director, explains, “Dooley is one of our most dedicated and consistent pro bono volunteers. He is extremely respectful of our clients. He takes the time to really understand their legal problems and, in doing so, puts them on the path to a resolution.”
Dooley encourages others in his profession to experience the rewards that come with pro bono service.
“I wish younger and older attorneys, who have not done so, to experience the rewards of participating in LAET. I believe that serving one’s community can result in more happiness and responsibility during a law or other career,” explains Dooley.
Dooley was born and raised in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., and attended Columbia Military Academy boarding school where the focus was self-discipline, religion and patriotism. Thereafter, at Vanderbilt, the lessons learned helped him serve as fraternity president and on the Inter-fraternity Council.
Upon graduation from Van-derbilt, he completed the Basic Infantry Officer Course at Ft. Benning and began Reserve service, totaling about nine years, rising to the rank of Captain. He then became employed by Jantzen Swimwear and Sportswear as a Sales Representative for Alabama, Florida panhandle, northern Mississippi and Memphis, Tenn. for 10 years.
During that time, he married Annette Drake, formerly of Fayetteville, Tenn., promising to retire from a traveling sales rep to either own and manage a retail clothing store or attend law school, or some other post-graduate school, within five years of their marriage, rather than travel.
By the end of the 10th year with Jantzen and the fifth year with Annette, he had won “Menswear Salesman of the Year.” In addition to his wife, two children, a dog, a cat and a mortgage were on the scene. While mowing the yard one day and thinking about future employment, it came to him that he could better serve his religion, family and country by becoming a lawyer. After cramming for the LSAT exam, having been out of Vanderbilt for 10 years, his LSAT score and business success allowed him to attend Cumberland Law School, less than five miles from home.
At Cumberland, while working three jobs simultaneously, he was Rush Chairman and President of Phi Delta Phi and a founding member of the Cumberland Law Review.
The rush of a new career came upon joining Bishop, Thomas, Leitner, Mann and Milburn in 1969, now Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan, PLLC. After about 20 years of practice, and paying his dues as board member and officer, he was elected President of the Chattanooga Bar Association, later being admitted as a Fellow of the CBA.
His other professional memberships are currently the American Bar Association, the International Association of Defense Council, the Tenn. Bar Association, the Tenn. Defense Lawyer Association and Defense Research Institute.
Any accomplishment in his lifetime, Dooley attributes to his religion and family. He says, “The failures were my own fault.”