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Adams and Reese Memphis Partner Lucian T. Pera was officially sworn in as President of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) on Friday, June 16, during the organization’s annual convention at the MeadowView Marriott Resort.

A Memphis native, Pera has practiced law in his hometown since 1986. He served for 20 years with Armstrong Allen PLCC before joining and helping open the Memphis office of Adams and Reese in 2006. Pera graduated from Princeton University with honors and earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1985.

“The TBA is one of the strongest state bars in the nation,” Pera said. “It matters to the daily work and lives Tennessee lawyers, the courts and their clients. And so, as a Tennessee lawyer, it is the highest honor I think of to serve as TBA President.”

With Adams and Reese, Pera practices in the areas of commercial litigation, media law and legal ethics and professional responsibility. He has been active in the TBA since his first year of law practice, beginning in the bar’s Young Lawyer Division and rising to serve as YLD president in 1993-1994. For almost a decade starting in 1995, he led the bar’s legal ethics committee, which wrote and successfully proposed to the Tennessee Supreme Court a completely revised set of lawyer ethics rules patterned after the American Bar Association’s (ABA) model rules. At the same time, Pera served on the ABA “Ethics 2000” Commission, which overhauled the model rules for the entire United States in 2002.

Pera has also been active in the ABA, service in its policy-making House of Delegates since 1990 and serving as ABA Treasurer from 2011-14. Currently, he serves as chair of the ABA’s Center for Professional Responsibility, the home of the ABA’s core lawyer ethics and professional responsibility committees. He also currently serves as President of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. The TCOG is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to improve citizen access to public information and open government in the state.

Taking office along with Pera as part of the 2017 TBA Annual Convention were President-Elect Jason Pannu of Lewis Thomason in Nashville and Vice President Sarah Sheppeard of Lewis Thomason in Knoxville. The annual meeting allows legal groups in the state to address common issues and concerns and offers opportunities for additional education, long-range planning, and recognition of attorneys who have performed outstanding legal work and community service.

The TBA is the largest professional association in Tennessee with more than 13,000 members. Founded in 1881, the TBA provides opportunities for continuing legal education, professional development and public service. The organization's dedication to serving the state's legal community is evidenced by its membership roll, which represents the entire spectrum of legal practice: plaintiff and defense lawyers, corporate counsel, judges, prosecutors, public defenders, government lawyers and legal services attorneys.