Gooch, Ozier and Pappas Honored by Best Lawyers®
Nashville, Tenn., March 9, 2009 – Bass, Berry & Sims Members James C. Gooch, William N. Ozier and T.G. Pappas will be honored by Best Lawyers® at their 25th Anniversary event in Atlanta on April 23, 2009. All three attorneys have been listed in Best Lawyers®, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, since the publication’s inception 25 years ago.
James Gooch has practiced with Bass, Berry & Sims since 1972, following completion of four years of military service in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps. He earned both LL.B. and B.A. degrees from Vanderbilt University and an LL.M. (taxation) from New York University. Gooch is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a trustee and former president of the Southern Federal Tax Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, former president of the Tennessee Federal Tax Institute and former chairman of the Tennessee Bar Association Tax Section. For the past four years, Gooch has been listed in Nashville Business Journal's Best of the Bar, a distinction earned exclusively by nominations from other attorneys. He is also listed in the Lawdragon 500 and Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers in America.
Bill Ozier joined Bass, Berry & Sims in June 1969, and was named a Member of the firm in 1974. He is the former chair of the Labor and Employment Practice Group and has been representing management in labor and employment matters exclusively since 1970. He is a Fellow in the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and has been named one of Tennessee's leading employment lawyers since 2003 by Chambers USA. He is listed in the Lawdragon 500 and Lawdragon 3000 Leading Lawyers in America. Ozier is currently serving on the board of directors for the Tennessee Business Roundtable and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, the two leading business organizations in the state. He also serves as the Chamber’s General Counsel. He received his B.A. degree (cum laude) and J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University. Ozier served as managing partner of the firm from 1987 through 1992 and as marketing partner from 1998-2001.
T.G. Pappas, while a student at the University of North Carolina, entered military service and served as a Master Sergeant in Military Intelligence with the 99th Infantry Division in the ETO. He was educated at the University of North Carolina, the University of Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt University, where he was named to the Order of the Coif and served as case editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. In 1966, Pappas joined Bass, Berry & Sims, where he served as the first managing partner of the firm. He concentrated his practice on general corporate law, public utilities and telecommunications. He has served as a member of the Judicial Council of the State of Tennessee and as president of the Nashville Bar Association. Pappas is a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers and the Tennessee Bar Foundation.
All proceeds generated by the Best Lawyers® event, celebrating the distinguished careers of the 1,397 lawyers who have been listed in the publication since it began rating lawyers in 1983, will go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Best Lawyers®, which published its first directory in 1983, is the oldest lawyer-rating publication in the U.S. The company compiles its listings of outstanding attorneys through exhaustive peer-review surveys. Every year, thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers and Best Lawyers® tabulates more than 2.5 million votes. Its annual publication, The Best Lawyers in America®, which continues to be the only advertisement-free referral guide to the legal profession, now includes 36,126 attorneys in 78 specialties, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
"We are so pleased to honor James C. Gooch, William N. Ozier and T. G. Pappas as three of the lawyers who have been with us from the start," says Steven Naifeh, President and founder of Best Lawyers®.
About Bass, Berry & Sims
With more than 230 attorneys representing numerous publicly-traded companies and Fortune 500 businesses, Bass, Berry & Sims has been involved in some of the largest and most significant business transactions and litigation matters in the country. For more information, visit www.bassberry.com.
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CONTACT: Edward Bowen
615-259-6447
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