Gadson William (Will) Perry will address students next week during orientation at the University of Tennessee College of Law.
Perry, a 2011 graduate of the College of Law, is an attorney in the Memphis office of the Butler Snow LLP. He focuses his practice on commercial contract disputes and other business litigation, specializing in breach-of-contract, cyber-security, business-tort, product liability, and intellectual-property claims.
“Although I live on the other side of the state, I’m never too far from the College of Law,” Perry said. “I’m excited to share some of my story with UT’s current crop of 1Ls and honored that the College of Law thought that story worth being shared.”
Perry’s “story” includes experience with bench and jury trials, arbitration, state and federal appeals, and class-action and multi-state litigation. He spent a year clerking for the Honorable Bernice Bouie Donald on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
During his time as a law student at the University of Tennessee, Perry was a legal writing fellow, a regional champion in mock trial and moot court, and chair of the moot court executive board. He is also a former middle school English teacher and has taught legal writing as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.
“It’s hard to believe that eleven years have passed since we were 1Ls,” he said. “I remain grateful to the staff, professors, and administrators who supported and encouraged me as a student.”
Perry has earned a number of distinctions, including having been selected for the Tennessee Bar Association’s 2019 Leadership Law Program, earning a 2018 Best of the Bar Award from the Memphis Business Journal, and serving as a fellow on the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. He has been named a Mid-South Rising Star in Business Litigation for four years by Super Lawyers. He currently serves as a member of the College of Law’s alumni council.
College of Law orientation begins Saturday with members of the entering class taking on a service project in the Knoxville area.