Cheryl G. Rice is the new president of the Knoxville Bar Association. She is a civil litigator with Egerton McAfee Armistead & Davis P.C.
Rice attended George Mason University for her undergraduate education, where she captained the women’s tennis team. She received her law degree from GMU’s Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, Virginia, and interned with the Federal Reserve Board while in law school. Before moving to Knoxville in 2000, she lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, and practiced law in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Cheryl G. Rice
Rice concentrates her practice predominately on business and estate litigation and has been with Egerton McAfee for 20 years. A graduate of Leadership Knoxville’s Class of 2017, she is a past President of the Tennessee Lawyers’ Association for Women and was appointed by Gov. Haslam to the Governor’s Commission for Judicial Appointments and to the Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments, the latter of which she chaired for two terms. In these roles, she participated in the vetting of judicial candidates for vacancies at all levels (trial, appellate and administrative, and workers’ compensation) throughout Tennessee.
The KBA held a virtual meeting Dec. 11. Rice follows Hanson R. Tipton, whose contributions included innovative virtual programming, construction of a Habitat for Humanity house and regular town halls with court officials. Others elected are:
- President-elect – Jason H. Long, London Amburn P.C.
- Treasurer – Loretta G. Cravens, Cravens Legal
- Secretary – Catherine E. Shuck, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital
Four new members of the KBA Board of Governors:
- Jonathan D. Cooper – Knox Defense
- Daniel L. Ellis – Disability Rights Tennessee
- Eric M. Lutton – Knox County Public Defender’s Law Office
- Carlos A. Yunsan – Tennessee Appellate Courts
Dwight E. Tarwater, of Paine, Tarwater, Bickers LLP, was presented the KBA’s highest award, the Governors’ Award, given annually to a lawyer whose peers believe has brought distinction and honor to the legal profession. Tarwater served as general counsel to Gov. Bill Haslam.
Retired Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz was given the Judicial Excellence Award.
The President’s Award for 2020 went to Denise Moretz of Woolf, McClane, Bright, Allen & Carpenter. Moretz was recognized for her work on the recently published “Planning Ahead: A Guide to Protecting Your Clients’ Interests in the Event of Your Disability or Death” to assist lawyers with succession planning. The awards for outstanding writing were presented to Phillip Hampton and William T. Ramsey for their column, which appears in the KBA monthly magazine DICTA.
Amanda T. Tonkin, an attorney with the Social Security Administration, was introduced as president of the Knoxville Barristers, the Young Lawyers Division of the KBA. Other officers of the Barristers:
- Vice President – Meagan Collver, London Amburn, PC
- Secretary/Treasurer – Zack Walden, Eldridge & Blakney
- Members-at-Large – Matt Knable, Law Office of Matthew R. Knable, and Charles Sharrett, London Amburn PC.
Mitchell Panter and Matt Knable, co-chairs of the Volunteer Breakfast Committee, received the Barristers’ Presidents’ Award for 2020.