The Chattanooga Bar Foundation is the charitable and educational arm of the Chattanooga Bar Association. Through the CBF’s Foundation Fellows, the CBA supports worthwhile charities and participates in public outreach, as well as community service and educational programs. The Fellows Program is patterned after similar programs within the American and Tennessee Bar Foundations.
The number of lawyers eligible to be elected as fellows is limited. A lawyer must be a member of the CBA, must be at least 35 years of age and must have been a licensed and practicing attorney for at least 10 years to be honored as a Fellow. Only lawyers with outstanding records of service to the bar and to the community may be honored as Fellows.
Brad Weeks
Brad Weeks received his J.D. degree from the University of Tennessee Law School in 1975 and joined the firm established by his father, W. R. Weeks, and current senior partner, Joseph C. Wagner, after passing the Bar. He was licensed in all state and federal courts at that time. The firm became Wagner, Nelson & Weeks in 1977 and he has continuously practiced with that firm since that time.
Weeks graduated from Baylor School in Chattanooga and the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., in 1971. He is married to Ann Weeks and is the father of two daughters, Brooke Weeks, a civil engineer in Portland, Ore., and Sarah E. Weeks, a planner for the Regional Planning Commission in Chattanooga.
Over the years, Weeks’ practice has developed into representation of local property management firms in both commercial and residential real estate issues. He serves on the board of the AIMS Center and as counsel to the Chattanooga Housing Authority, as well as general counsel to the Chattanooga Apartment Association and on the board of the Tennessee Apartment Association. For over 10 years, he served as municipal court judge for the Town of Lookout Mountain. He currently operates a small pro-bono legal clinic for the clients of the Episcopal Metropolitan Ministries.
Brad was ordained by the Episcopal Church as a Deacon in 2009 and serves at Grace Episcopal Church in Brainerd.
Carl E. Hartley
Carl E. Hartley, a shareholder at Baker, Donelson, Bear-man, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC,
is chair of the Firm’s Tax Department and has held the position since 2003. Hartley concentrates his practice in state and local taxation as well as federal taxation and represents for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in a wide variety of business matters.
Hartley’s experience in-cludes representing clients in controversies before the IRS and state departments of revenue and in local government tax controversies. He regularly assists clients in tax and business planning, legislative matters involving tax issues and incentive requests before agencies such as the Tennessee Departments of Revenue and Economic and Community Development.
Hartley is a regular speaker on state tax issues, past chairman of the Tennessee Bar Association Tax Section and was chair of the Tax Committee for the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry for over 20 years. Hartley is also a past chairman of the Chattanooga Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service, the Constitution/By-
laws Committee of Rotary Chattanooga, the American Lung Association of Tennessee (South-east Region) and a past president of the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club. He has served on numerous boards is currently chair of the Chattagnooga Manufacturers Association’s Tax Committee and a Fellow in the Tennessee Bar Foundation. He is ranked AV Preeminent by “Martindale-Hubbell,” listed in “Mid-South Super Lawyers” (Tax Law) and recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America” (Tax Law, Corporate Law and Non-Profit/Charities Law).
Hartley is licensed in Ten-nessee and Georgia; admitted to practice before Tennessee state courts, the U.S. Tax Court, and federal district and appellate courts; and is a member of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Georgia and American Bar Associations.
John Rice
John Rice has practiced extensively before the Tennes-see, Georgia, and Federal Courts through the appellate levels. Rice is graduate of Marshall University. He received his J.D. degree from the University of Tennessee in 1974. He was admitted to the bar of the State of Tennessee in 1974. He is a member of the Tennessee and Chattanooga Bar Associations and has held board positions in the local bar. He was President of the Chattanooga Bar Assoc-iation in 2010-2011. Rice is presently President emeritus 2011-2012 of the Chattanooga Bar Association.
He has served as a volunteer golf coach at Chattanooga School for Liberal arts, volunteer basketball coach at YMCA, trustee First Centenary United Methodist Church and USAR 1970-1976. He is married to Mary DeShazo Rice and has three daughters, Elizabeth Rusk, Hannah T. Rice and Miriam R. Rice.
Lane Avery
Lane Avery was born and raised in Columbus, Ga. He attended Vanderbilt University and graduated with a B.S. degree in 1979. Lane received his law degree in 1982 from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University, and he obtained a Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida in 1983.
In 1983, he began his law practice with the firm of Gearhiser, Peters & Horton, where he was privileged to practice for more than 20 years with a number of lawyers, including his good friend, Charles Gearhiser, who were influential mentors and patient teachers, and who became and remain his very good friends.
In 2003, Lane joined the law firm of Spears Moore Rebman & Williams, where his practice involves the general representation of health care providers, including institutional providers, physicians and physician groups, other closely-held businesses, including corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies, transactions involving the sale and acquisition of businesses, the formation of business entities, estate planning, the sale and disposition of real estate, and employment law.
Lane and his wife, Baret, live on Signal Mountain, with their daughter, Maddie, a second grader at Nolan Elementary, and attend Signal Crest Methodist Church. Lane is an avid bicycling enthusiast, and he and his wife have enjoyed more than a dozen cross country motorcycle trips together, traveling to places such as Montana, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, Canada. Lane is a member of the American, Tennessee and Chattanooga Bar Associations. Lane has served on the board of directors of Hospice of Chattanooga since 2005, and currently serves as board chairman of Hospice of Chattanooga.
Mike McMahan
Mike McMahan has been a licensed attorney since 1968 graduating from the University of Tennessee. From 1968 to 1973, he served in the U.S. Army receiving a direct commission to Captain in the Judge Advocate Generals Corp in 1969. He served as both a defense counsel and a prosecuting attorney before being advanced to the position of Chief of Military Justice, XIII Airborne Corp and Ft. Bragg.
He relocated to Chattanooga in August 1973 and became an associate in the firm of Eugene N. Collins and Associates. Collins was Chattanooga City and McMahan became Special Counsel to the City. In that capacity, he represented the City and various boards and agencies thereof. McMahan served as Board Attorney for the Chattanooga School Board before it was dissolved. In addition to his representation of the City, McMahan was involved in a general practice of law representing corporations and individual clients on a variety of matters. McMahan was named Chattanooga City Attorney in 2009. He supervises a staff of five Assistant City Attorneys who handle virtually all of the City’s legal affairs. McMahan is certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and as a Civil Trial Specialist by the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Education and Specialization. He is a member of the Chattanooga Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association and the International Municipal Lawyers Association.
William Horton
William Horton has been practicing law in Chattanooga for the last 39 years. His areas of practice include commercial and real estate transactions, family law, litigation and mediation, and employment and business law. He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Courts of Tennessee and Georgia, and many federal courts. He is licensed in Tennessee and Georgia.
Horton received his Bachelor of Science degree from East Tennessee State University in 1969 and his juris doctorate from the University of Tennessee in 1971. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Tennessee and Chattanooga Bar Associations, the American Association of Justice and the State Bar of Georgia. He is a board member for the Walter E. Boehm Birth Defects Center and Choose Chattanooga, and has also served on the Board of the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.
Horton has practiced law as a partner in the firms of Gearhiser, Peters & Horton and Horton, Maddox & Anderson. He has also served as general counsel in private industry and is currently serving in that capacity as well as maintaining a private practice in the firm of Horton, Ballard & Pemerton located in the James Building