At the University of Tennessee College of Law’s 2024 honors’ banquet, Sherley Cruz, assistant professor of law, was awarded the Tom & Elizabeth Fox Faculty Award for Service to the Bench & Bar. This award recognizes a faculty member for significant contributions to the work of national and local bar associations and the judiciary.
“Professor Cruz maintains a very close connection to the Bench and Bar,” Lonnie Brown, dean and Elvin E. Overton Distinguished Professor of Law, said at the awards banquet. “She actively engages practicing lawyers and judges in providing essential pro bono legal services to underserved citizens in our community, while at the same time exposing her students to an unparalleled learning experience.”
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In 2022, Cruz was instrumental in establishing the Knoxville Latino Bar Association and is a member of the association’s board. She is the outgoing secretary and the incoming chair-elect of the Association of American Law Schools Employment Discrimination Law Section. She also brings her expertise in employment law to her service as a member of the Tennessee Alliance of Legal Services Employment Law Task Force and the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Community Advocates. She is a regular contributor to the Knoxville Bar Association’s monthly magazine DICTA.
“My service to the bar is one way for me to give back,” said Cruz, “My expertise and research can help Tennesseans across the state by influencing the work of lawyers, advocates and community organizers.”
This January, Cruz was elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Clinical Section of the Association of American Law Schools, which is the organization’s largest committee with over 1,400 members.