Alumnus earns 2018 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award

^{T. Maxfield Bahner}

JEFFERSON CITY, TENNESSEE (June 6, 2018) — T. Maxfield Bahner, a 1954 Carson-Newman alumnus, has been selected to receive the prestigious 2018 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Sixth Circuit. He will be presented with the award by Chief Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr., and Judge Pamela L. Reeves at the Sixth Circuit Annual Judicial Conference in May at the Nashville Music City Center.

Bahner is senior counsel with Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C. in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where his practice concentrates on complex litigation. He is a AAA arbitrator and a Rule 31 certified mediator. His mediation experience includes difficult contract disputes, health care-related matters, and disputes between insurers and physician groups. He is skilled at achieving agreement between bitterly divided parties.

In his litigation practice, Bahner has successfully defended large cases involving trade regulation, indemnity claims, and other commercial lawsuits, including complex contractual issues and trade regulation matters. He was chair of the Tennessee Supreme Court Advisory Commission on the Rules of Civil Procedure, and of the task force that reviewed and recommended changes to the Tennessee Rules of Judicial Conduct.

Bahner is Emeritus Master of the Bench in the Justices Ray L. Brock, Jr.–Robert E. Cooper American Inn of Court. He is a Founding Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and the Chattanooga Bar Foundation, and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Association. He served nearly 17 years in the American Bar Association House of Delegates, leading the Tennessee delegation for nine years.

Bahner graduated from Carson-Newman with a bachelor of science degree; he has chaired the college’s board of trustees for five years. He earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1960.