The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) has named Legal Aid of East Tennessee Chattanooga attorney and Pro Bono Project Director Charlie McDaniel the 2014 New Advocate of the Year. The award will be presented on Wednesday, Sept. 10 in Murfreesboro. Diane Nash, a leader of the civil rights movement, will give the keynote address.
The New Advocate of the Year Award is given by the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services to an attorney working for a public interest law firm, like Legal Aid, who has been practicing for five years or less. This was the last year McDaniel was eligible.
The TALS website says: “This award seeks to recognize a specific kind of advocacy: affirmative, energetic, and effective. It seeks to recognize those who use their legal skills in an active, creative way that produces outstanding benefits for individual clients and the communities in which they live.”
McDaniel not only works locally but is active state-wide through the Tennessee Bar Association and the Administrative Office of the Courts.
Russell Fowler, associate director of the southern region of LAET, says he’s never known a more impressive young lawyer and leader. “Not only does ... [Charlie] skillfully and creatively handle complex litigation, he’s taken our pro bono program to new heights and has become a statewide leader in the access to justice cause. In everything he does, he’s bold, insightful, and fully committed, and has helped to make our office a national model.”
Last year’s New Advocate of the Year was Emily O’Donnell, also from LAET’s Chattanooga office.