Charles Newman to Keynote 2024 TBA Convention

Bench Bar Luncheon set for June 13, 2024 at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN

Burch, Porter and Johnson member Charles F. Newman will give the keynote address at the Bench Bar Luncheon at the Tennessee Bar Association Convention on June 13, 2024. The convention’s theme is “A Bridge to the Future,” reflecting the evolving role that the law and lawyers play in society.

Charlie joined Burch Porter in 1965 after clerking for U.S. District Judge Bailey Brown.  He has practiced in virtually every area, representing businesses, educational institutions, news organizations, and environmental and conservation organizations. He served as one of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s lawyers during the sanitation workers strike of 1968 and played a pivotal role in the efforts to protect and preserve both Shelby Farms and Overton Park, including the creation of the Shelby Farms Conservancy and the Overton Park Conservancy. He was also centrally involved in the development of the Greenline Trail, the Big River Crossing spanning the Mississippi River, the Arkansas Levee Trail, and the lighting of the two bridges across the Mississippi River.

He is a Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate of Yale College.  Following graduate work in philosophy in Germany, he graduated from Yale Law School in 1963.  He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for over 30 years in seven practice areas, and received numerous honors and awards, including the Memphis Bar Association Lawyer’s Lawyer Award, “Memphian of the Year” by Memphis Magazine, the William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award from the Fellows of the Tennessee Bar Association, and the Frederick Law Olmsted Award from the Tennessee Chapter of the National Society of Landscape Architects.

During decades of service to the legal community and greater Memphis, he served as President of the Memphis Bar Association and the Yale Club of Memphis, and as Chair of the Rhodes College President’s Council.  He is a former Member of the Boards of the Memphis Bar Association, National Civil Rights Museum Foundation, Memphis College of Art, LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis Public Library Foundation, Memphis Metropolitan Interfaith Association, Memphis Rotary Club, Memphis Landmarks Commission, Tennessee Nature Conservancy, Tennessee Conservation League, and Wolf River Conservancy, and of the Executive Committee of the Yale Law School Association and the Class Council, Class of 1959 of Yale College.

Lawyers of the firm will join attorneys from across Tennessee at the Bench Bar Luncheon on June 13th for Charlie’s keynote address.

To learn more about Charles Newman, click here.