Twentieth Judicial District Chancellor Anne C. Martin has been named this year’s recipient of the Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey Award, an honor bestowed each year by the Lawyers’ Association for Women – Marion Griffith Chapter. Chancellor Martin accepted the award during the organization’s 40th anniversary celebration, which was held virtually.
The Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey award is given each year to “active LAW members who model personal and professional achievement in the practice of law.” Judge Daughtrey became the first woman in the state to become a judge on a court of record when she was appointed to the Court of Criminal Appeals in 1975. She also became the first woman justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1990. She is currently a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
“Thank you to LAW for naming me as the 2020-2021 recipient of the Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey Award,” Chancellor Martin said upon accepting the award. “Judge Cissy Daughtrey has been an inspiration to women lawyers for many years, and certainly since I began practicing in 1992. I am humbled to be associated with her through this award.”
Chancellor Martin was elected to the Chancery Court bench in 2018, after having spent the previous 26 years in private practice, first with the firm of Dodson, Parker & Behm, P.C., and then with Bone McAllester Norton PLLC. Additionally, Chancellor Martin has served as an adjunct professor at the Belmont University College of Law and the Nashville School of Law. She received her bachelor’s degree from Smith College and her Juris Doctor from Vanderbilt University Law School.
As an attorney, Chancellor Martin was repeatedly recognized for her work. She was selected for The Best Lawyers in America guide for a decade in the field of labor and employment, and was named Lawyer of the Year in several different categories as well. She was also named one of the top 50 Women Attorneys for several years running as part of Mid-South Super Lawyers. Furthermore, the Nashville Business Journal regularly chose her for its Best of the Bar list.
In addition to her regular Chancery Court docket, Chancellor Martin also presides over the Business Court Docket Pilot Project, a special docket designed to hear complex or unique questions of business law. She was assigned to head the project in 2019 by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
During her acceptance speech, Chancellor Martin spoke of the friends and mentors who had preceded her in winning the Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey Award: Judge Aleta Trauger, Margaret Behm, Justice Connie Clark, Chancellor Pat Moskal, and retired Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman.
These women “have common characteristics – passion for their work, deep knowledge in the law, an innate curiosity and eagerness to learn, and an understanding of the obligation to support women who have come behind them,” Chancellor Martin said. “We owe them so much, and for me, I commit to continue their work of lifting the next generation of women with mentorship, encouragement and assistance to the best of my ability. My door is always open for advice, friendship, and a strong shoulder.”
