Chattanooga attorney Brittany Faith has taken office as the 2022-23 president of the Young Lawyers Division of the Tennessee Bar Association.
She took the oath through Zoom during the group’s annual convention in Nashville June 17. Faith is on maternity leave from Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison following the birth of her second child with husband Justin Faith, an attorney with Gearhiser, Peters, Elliott & Cannon in Chattanooga.
Faith is the head of the immigration practice group at Grant Konvalinka, where she assists clients with family-based immigration petitions, employment-based petitions and humanitarian relief.
During the meeting, Faith outlined her plans for the coming year, which include providing practical tools that will help young attorneys develop and build their practices.
“The YLD for the [Washington State Bar Association] provides a sample motion to set, a sample motion to dismiss and other basic forms. We›re going through the TBA archives and asking board members of the state bar to donate forms like this so there›s a certain level of competency that comes with being a member of the YLD,” Faith explains.
Faith and her board are also planning to offer continuing legal education that will give YLD members a solid foundation for their careers.
“We could have CLE on the history of gun rights – which would be topical – but how many of our members are handling guns rights cases? Not many. So we’re going to provide education on things that can help a young lawyer succeed.”
The YLD has dubbed the project “Welcome to Tennessee.”
“Being a young lawyer can be difficult,” Faith wrote in a Facebook post following the meeting. “Hopefully, the work we do this year will make it easier so they can achieve their goals and be able to do the things they love.”
Faith says the state bar’s YLD will also “dial up its public service projects,” which will include a rebranded Wills for Heroes event called Essential Documents for Essential Workers, a name change clinic geared toward the transgender and nonbinary communities and more.
In addition to assuming the YLD presidency, Faith is active in legal organizations in her community, state and across the country.
She currently serves as an elected board member of the America Immigration Lawyers Association Midsouth Chapter, which serves immigration attorneys based in Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. The board of the organization consists of 85 members from across the nation, 21 of which are elected members.
The AILA awarded Faith its Pro Bono Hero award in 2014.
Locally, Faith has served as president of the Chattanooga Bar Association’s YLD and as president of the Southeast Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women.
“I’m a bar junkie,” she says.
Faith is also active in the Chattanooga and Southeast communities. She has served as board chair for La Paz of Chattanooga and volunteered with Midsouth Immigration Advocates, Justice for Our Neighbors, the University of Tennessee College of Law and more.
Faith previously was a member of the Foreign Ministry of Mexico’s PALE program, which provides legal advice and services to Mexican nationals residing in the U.S.
Her dedication has earned her numerous accolades. In 2019, Faith was one of 40 U.S. attorneys to be selected for the ABA on the Rise – Top 40 Young Lawyers award. In 2017, she received the TBA YLD President’s Recognition award. And in 2020, Faith was selected for membership in the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation, an honor limited to one-third of 1% of all lawyers in the U.S.
Faith is an Oak Ridge, Tennessee native. She rearned a degfre from Pennsylvania State University and then progressed to the UT College of Law, where she was director of Tennessee’s Pro Bono Program, treasurer of Law Women, the ABA representative for the Student Bar Association and AILA Midsouth law school liaison.
Before coming to Grant Konvalinka, Faith worked at several immigration nonprofits and created the College of Law’s U Visa Alternative Spring Break Program.
Taking office with Faith was TBA YLD president-elect Quinton Thompson of Morgan & Morgan in Memphis.
More than 200 Tennessee lawyers took part in the convention, which provided continuing legal education, long-range planning and recognition of attorneys who have performed outstanding legal work and community service.
The TBA was founded in 1881 and is dedicated to enhancing fellowship and professionalism among the members of Tennessee’s legal community. Its membership represents the spectrum of the legal profession in the state. Membership is open to all licensed attorneys in good standing.
Additional sources: TBA; Grant Konvalinka