George T. "Buck" Lewis of Baker Donelson has been appointed as a special advisor to the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service.
A shareholder in the Memphis office of Baker Donelson and leader of the Firm's Appellate Practice Group, Mr. Lewis served as chair of the ABA Pro Bono and Public Service Committee from 2016 to 2019. He has also served as president of the Tennessee Bar Association and the Memphis Bar Foundation, and he has chaired the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission. He has twice received ABA Presidential Citations, most recently in 2019 for his work on access to justice issues. Mr. Lewis is also a recipient of the Frances Perkins Public Service Award from the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, the William Reece Smith Jr. Pro Bono Award from the National Association of Pro Bono Professionals, and the Justice Janice Holder Award for Access to Justice from the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services.
The mission of the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service is to ensure access to justice through the expansion and enhancement of the delivery of legal and other law-related services to the underserved through volunteer efforts of legal professionals nationwide. The committee focuses on promoting and expanding pro bono legal services as a core component of the nation’s legal services delivery system.