Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee will serve as the University of Tennessee College of Law’s Spring 2023 commencement speaker.
Lee, a 1978 graduate of the College of Law, has spent 45 years as a lawyer and jurist. She became the first female judge on the Eastern Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals in 2004 and was unanimously retained in 2006. In 2008, she was appointed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, where she has served to the present, including two years as the court’s chief justice. She has announced her plans to retire from the bench in August.
Lee has long championed access to justice and indigent representation. While serving as the state’s chief justice she established a business court pilot project, implemented electronic filing, reviewed the state’s indigent representation system and launched a docket clean-up initiative.
She graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1975 with a business administration degree before attending and graduating from the College of Law. After law school, Lee practiced in her hometown of Madisonville representing business entities and individuals in civil and criminal matters. She later served as the attorney for Monroe County, the City of Madisonville and the City of Vonore, and as the Madisonville municipal judge.
Lee is a past recipient of the University of Tennessee’s Distinguished Alumna Award (2022); the University of Tennessee Centennial Alumnus, recognizing 100 outstanding alumni in the past 100 years (2017); the University of Tennessee Alumni Professional Achievement Award (2011); and the Grayfred Gray Public Service in Mediation Award (2022).
“We are thrilled and honored to have Justice Lee as our 2023 commencement speaker,” Dean Lonnie T. Brown, Jr. said. “She truly epitomizes all that is good about the legal profession, and I am so glad that our 2023 graduates will get to hear from such a wonderful role model.”
The College of Law’s commencement will take place on May 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Thompson-Boling Arena.