Tennessee Judges to Receive National Honors
Judges from Madisonville, Nashville and Memphis are being recognized with awards from the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ), with more than 1,500 members nationwide representing all levels of the state and federal judiciary.
State Court of Appeals Judge Sharon Lee of Maryville, Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman of Nashville, Circuit Court Judge Donna Fields of Memphis and Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan, also of Memphis, will be presented with 2005 NAWJ Spotlight Awards at a June 14 reception in Knoxville. Superior Court Judge Sandra Thompson of Los Angeles, president of NAWJ, will present the awards.
Chancellor Carol McCoy of Nashville, a member of the NAWJ board, said the “outstanding credentials” of the four award recipients were among the factors the organization considered. For more than 25 years, NAWJ has advanced “equal justice and equal representation in the courtroom,” she said.
Lee, appointed in 2004 by Gov. Phil Bredesen, practiced law for 26 years and served as county attorney for Monroe County and city attorney for Madisonville and Vonore. The Madisonville resident is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association and the Tennessee and American Trial Lawyers Associations and served as the Monroe County Bar Association’s president, secretary and vice president.
Before her 2003 Chancery Court appointment by the governor, Bonnyman served 14 years as clerk and master in the 20th Judicial District. She was in the private practice of law prior to entering public service. She is a co-founding member of the Middle Tennessee Lawyer’s Association for Women and served as the association’s first president. In 1995, she received the Women’s Equity at Vanderbilt Award for her pro bono work in private practice.
Fields, of Memphis, was appointed to the bench in 2004 after practicing law for nearly 28 years. She is a member of the Memphis Bar Association, Tennessee and American Bar Associations. She is a former vice president of the West Tennessee Division of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and served on its board of directors for more than 10 years. She is a “Fellow” of the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Associations, as well as the Memphis Bar Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Memphis Bar Association.
Skahan, also appointed in 2004, practiced law for 19 years. From 1987 to 1989, she worked as an assistant district attorney in the Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office and from 1986 to 1987 she was an assistant public defender in the Shelby County Public Defender’s Office. She served on the board of directors for the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is a member of the Association of Women Attorneys and the Memphis Bar Association.