George T. Lewis, Life Fellow, was named as the 2026 recipient of the William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award, which is presented by the Fellows of the TBA Young Lawyers Division. It was presented to him at the TBA’s Annual Convention in Knoxville in June during the Lawyers Luncheon.
The award is named after former Attorney General William M. Leech Jr., and the award is given each year to a Tennessee lawyer who has been of outstanding service to the profession, the legal system, and their community. Lewis’s career has focused on promoting access to justice initiatives in Tennessee and across the country, as he is a past chair of the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and the ABA Pro Bono and Public Service Committee.
Lewis is currently a shareholder in the Memphis office of Baker Donelson and leads the Firm’s Appellate Group. In addition, he is the Larry Wilks Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at Winston College of Law and co-founder of the newly renamed Pamela Reeves Institute for Professional Leadership. His work has been recognized with the Justice Janice M. Holder Award for Access to Justice from the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the W.J. Michael Cody Pro Bono Award from the Memphis Bar Association.
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