Gail Vaughn Ashworth ’83, a founding member of the Wiseman Ashworth Law Group in Nashville, will receive the American Bar Association Tort, Trial and Insurance Practice Section’s Edmund S. Muskie Pro Bono Service Award Oct. 14 at the section’s fall meeting in Dallas.
The award recognizes TIPS members who have demonstrated commitment to justice for all citizens and dedication to pro bono service.
“Gail Vaughn Ashworth is a wonderful attorney who has dedicated much of her career to improving access to justice in her home state of Tennessee,” said John McMeekin, chair of the ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section. “From involvement in the Tennessee Justice Center to the Access to Justice Commission to the Tennessee Bar Association and beyond, Gail proudly advocates for the community she loves.”
Ashworth’s diverse trial practices spans three decades and ranges from personal injury to insurance coverage, employment law and medical ethics. She is a Tennessee Rule 31 mediator with more than 15 years of experience.
She is a widely known and respected leader in the legal profession statewide and a community leader in Nashville. She is a past president of the Nashville and Tennessee Bar Associations, a trustee of the Nashville Bar Foundation, and is involved in state and national organizations that teach leadership to lawyers—TBA Leadership Law and the ABA/TIPS Leadership Academy. She chaired the Tennessee Justice Center Board of Directors from 2006 to 2008, the Tennessee Legal Community Foundation in 2010 and the Legal Aid Society/Nashville Pro Bono Annual Campaign for Justice in 2011.
She regularly speaks at continuing legal education seminars and was a faculty member and student mentor for the 2012 ABA/TIPS/ABOTA National Trial Academy at the National Judicial College. She serves on several nonprofit boards and is a member of the medical ethics committee for a local hospital.
Ashworth is a member of TIPS Council, past chair of the TIPS Medicine and Law Committee, a member of the TortSource Editorial Board and serves as a mentor for Leadership Academy and Trial Academy students.
She received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University and her bachelor and master’s degrees in music education and special education, respectively, from Tennessee Technological University.