Lucian T. Pera

• Chambers USA - Recognized Practitioner in Litigation: Tennessee, 2024
• King County Bar Association “Friend of the Legal Profession” - 2023
• Best of the Bar, Memphis Business Journal, 2017
• AV® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
• Best Lawyers® - Appellate Practice, Commercial Litigation, Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law, First Amendment Law, Health Care Law, Legal Malpractice Law (Defendants/Plaintiffs), Litigation - First Amendment, Media Law
• Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year – Memphis Appellate Practice, 2025; Memphis Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law, 2022; Memphis Litigation - First Amendment Law, 2012
• Mid-South Super Lawyers® (by Thomson Reuters) Business Litigation 2006-2024
• "Top Rated Lawyer in Commercial Litigation" - American Lawyer Media, Martindale-Hubbell™, 2013
• Best 150 Lawyers in Tennessee - BusinessTN Magazine
• The Power Players - Business Litigation - Memphis Business Quarterly Magazine, 2010-2015
• Power Players - Business Litigation - Inside Memphis Business, 2021
• Who's Who in American Law 1992-Present
• Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing 1992
• Sam A. Myar, Jr. Memorial Award - Memphis Bar Association 1997
• President’s Award - Tennessee Bar Association 2000, 2003

• Lucian has litigated key media access cases, including a Tennessee Supreme Court case extending access under the Tennessee Public Records Act to records of private companies that are the “functional equivalent” of government (Memphis Publishing Co. v. Cherokee Children & Family Services, Inc., 87 S.W.3d 67 (Tenn. 2002)) and expressly confirming the constitutional right of public and press access to attend civil trials (King v. Jowers, 12 S.W. 3d 410 (Tenn. 1999)).

Articles & Publications

• "Time to Lift the Ban on Nonlawyer Ownership?" published in the ABA Law Practice magazine, January 2025 (ABA membership subscription required)
• "Judges Weigh in on SCOTUS Ethics," co-author, published in Bloomberg Law, Practical Guidance, November 2024
• "Artificial Intelligence: Legal Issues, Policy, and Practical Strategies", co-author on Ethics Chapter, American Bar Association's First Book Addressing AI's Impact on the Legal Profession, July 2024
• "The Madness of the Lawyer Fee-Sharing Ban," published in the American Bar Association Law Practice Magazine, May 2024
• "In the World of Legal Ethics, 10 Trends to Note from 2023," published in Law360, co-author with Trisha Rich of Holland & Knight, December 2023
• "Litigation Funding and Confidentiality: A Comprehensive Analysis of Current Case Law," Westfleet Advisors White Paper, co-author with Westfleet Advisors CEO Charles Agee III and University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law Student Chase Haegley, October 2023
• "Ethics, Lawyering, and Regulation in a Time of Great Change: Field Notes from the (R)evolution," published in the South Carolina Law Review, September 2023
• "Ethics: Can I Sell That?" published in American Bar Association Law Practice Magazine, March/April 2023 (ABA membership required)
• "Litigation Funding and Confidentiality: A Comprehensive Analysis of Current Case Law," Westfleet Advisors White Paper, August 2021
• "What Will Litigation Funding Look Like in 10 Years?" published in Law360, April 2021 (subscription required)
• "What if Chambers Ranks Law Firms Alongside ALSPs?" ALM/Law.com, August 2020 (subscription required)
• "It Can Be Risky For Litigators to Advise on Litigation Funding," Law360, March 2020 (subscription required)
• "The Two-Company Model for New Law," Law Practice Magazine, March 2020
• "7 Ethics Considerations for Lawyers Using Lead Generators," published in Law360, co-author with William Hornsby and Peter Jarvis, March 2020
• "Time for a Change in the Lawyer Ad Rules," published in Law Practice magazine, March/April 2019
• "Responsibilities in Joint Representation," Law Practice magazine, November/December 2018
• "President's Perspective: Unfinished Business," published in the Tennessee Bar Journal, May 2018
• "President's Perspective: Lawyering with Hope in Uncertain Times," published in the Tennessee Bar Journal, April 2018
• "President's Perspective: Ban Harassment and Discrimination Now," published in the Tennessee Bar Journal, March 2018
• "President's Perspective: Run, Lawyers! Run!" published in the Tennessee Bar Journal, February 2018
• "President's Perspective: Time for Reform," published in the Tennessee Bar Journal, January 2018
• "President's Perspective: Encouraging Experiments," published in the Tennessee Bar Journal, December 2017
• "Consent is a Process, Not a Piece of Paper: Practical Advice for Documenting Conflict Waivers," published in Loss Prevention Journal, Attorneys' Liability Assurance Society, Inc., Volume XXV, Number 2, Summer 2014
• "Tennessee Fair Report Privilege Shields Fox Affiliate from Defamation Claims," Media Law Resource Center Newsletter, May 2014
• "ABA Treasurer's Report: Fiscal Year Ending Aug. 31, 2012," published in ABA Journal, June 2013

Media Mentions

• "Model Rule of Professional Conduct - Rule 5.4," interviewed on American Bar Association Podcast, April 2024
• "Momentum and Roadblocks for Regulatory Reform," interviewed on Legal Services Corporation "Talk Justice" Podcast, November 2023
• "Trump Pardons Won't Shield Lawyers Disciplined for Ethics," interviewed by Bloomberg Law, December 2020 (subscription required)
• "DOJ's Antifa Push Spurs Trump Appointee to Change a Band's Bassist Over a Bag of Weed," interviewed by Huffington Post, October 2020
• "Concerns Rise as Tennessee Courts Start Allowing In-Person Proceedings," interviewed by WREG Memphis Channel 3 News, June 2020
• "California Judge Denies Injunction Against LegalMatch," interviewed in Bloomberg Law, May 2020
• "Wet Ink Signatures Requirements May Fade After Coronavirus," interview with Bloomberg Law, April 2020 (subscription required)
• "Pierce Bainbridge Funding Deal Raises Ethical Red Flags," interview with Law360, March 2020 (subscription required)
• "How Can Law Firms Stay Afloat Through the Novel Coronavirus Crisis?" interview with ABA Journal, March 2020 (subscription required)
• "NewLaw: The Future of Legal Work in Louisiana," interviewed in New Orleans CityBusiness, November 2019
• "Employees' First Amendment Rights and Social Media Posts," interview with ABC-24 in Memphis, June 2019
• "Law Day 2019: Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society," interview with ABA Journal (subscription required); Jaworski Public Program Series Presentation with remarks by Lucian Pera, May 2019
• "Free App Walks Users Through Filing a Claim," interview with Macomb County Legal News, November 2018
• "You've Been Hacked. Now What?" interview in ABA Journal, November 2018
• "Reporters Shouldn't Have To Censor Information From Government Meetings," interviewed in The Greenville Sun, September 2018
• "The Digital Edge: The Cloudy Ethics of Cloud Computing," Legal Talk Network podcast, August 2018
• "ABA Model Rules on Lawyer Advertising to be Modernized," mention in ABA Journal, August 2018
• "Litigation Funders Face Their Hardest Sell: Big Law," interview with ALM/Law.com, June 2018 (subscription required)
• "An Interview with TBA President Lucian Pera: Part 3 - The Role of the TBA and Lawyers," Tennessee Bar Association, October 2017
• "An Interview with TBA President Lucian Pera: Part 2 - Goals & Trends," Tennessee Bar Association, October 2017
• "Ethics of Business Development," Legal Marketing Launch podcast, January 2016

Presentations

• Ethics, Lawyering, and Regulation in a Time of Great Change: Field Notes from the (R)evolution, Speaker, Joseph G. Miller and William C. Becker Center for Professional Responsibility Distinguished Lecture Series, The University of Akron School of Law, March 2024
• 2023 Legal Ethics Year in Review, Webinar with Trisha Rich of Holland & Knight, November 2023
• Legal Ethics Roundup 2023, American Law Institute CLE Webinar with Trisha Rich of Holland & Knight, October 2023
• Litigation Disclosure Agreements, interviewed on Vorys IP Podcast, July 2023
• 2022 Legal Ethics Year in Review, Webinar with Trisha Rich of Holland & Knight, November 2022
• Ethics Best Practices for General Counsels of the Future, Legality Symposium, Panelist, April 2021
• Consumer Litigation Funding: The Basics, Current Regulatory, Ethical, and Confidentiality Issues, American Bar Association Webinar, Moderator, November 2020
• Modern Litigation Finance Options: The Rules and Risks Explained, American Bar Association Webinar, Presenter, September 2020
• Cybersecurity Ethics for Lawyers: Very Specific Things to Do Today to Be Safer Tomorrow, Lawline Webinar, Presenter, August 2020
• Working Remotely and Securely: What Lawyers Need to Know, American Bar Association Webinar, April 2020
• A Look into the Future of the Regulation of the Legal Profession, 19th Annual Legal Malpractice and Risk Management Conference, highlighted in Bloomberg Law, March 2020
• Green Ethics for Judges, The Environmental Law & Policy Annual Review's Green Ethics for Judges Event at Vanderbilt Law School, March 2020
• MBA in a Half Day, Association of Corporate Counsel Tennessee Chapter and Belmont University College of Law, December 2019
  
• Legal Ethics Year in Review: News You Can Use for Corporate Counsel, ACC Tennessee and Adams & Reese, The Crescent Club, Memphis, December 2019
• The Ethical Campaign, Tennessee Bar Association Seminar, December 2019
• Legal Ethics and Cybersecurity, American Association of Attorney-CPAs (AAA-CPA) Fall Meeting and Education Conference, November 2019
• Commercial Litigation Funding: Learning the Basics, Surveying the Current Market and Products, and Understanding the Legal, Ethics, and Confidentiality Issues, American Bar Association Webinar, November 2019
• Current State of the Law in Litigation Finance, Litigation Finance Dealmakers Forum, New York City, September 2019
• Law Firm Cybersecurity Requirements You Never Dreamed of: Emerging Threats, Ethical Obligations to Clients and Survival Tactics, ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, August 2019
• Covering the Courthouse — What Lawyers Can and Cannot, and Will or Won’t Tell You About Cases and Why, Panelist, Tennessee Bar Association Reporters Workshop, May 2019
• Privacy and Data Security Legal and Ethical Obligations for Lawyers, American Bar Association's Fourth National Institute on Cybersecurity and Data Protection, May 2019
• Attorney Advertising and the Search for Plaintiffs, Thirteenth Annual Judicial Symposium on Civil Justice Issues, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, May 2019
• Litigation Financing, Panelist, ABA's 45th National Conference on Professional Responsibility, Vancouver, May 2019
• Evolving Legal Ethics: Portable Devices, the Cloud and Social Media, PLI's TechLaw Institute 2019: The Digital Evolution, San Francisco and New York, April 2019
• An Interactive Session on Ethics in the Digital Era with Real-Life Stories, Virginia State Bar Techshow, April 2019
• Evolution of Attorney Advertising in the Internet and Social Media Age, George Mason University Law & Economics Center Symposium on Civil Justice, April 2019
• Ethical Implications in Settlement: Strategies for Your Mass Toxic Tort Case, DRI Toxic Torts and Environmental Law Seminar, March 2019
• Litigation Financing, Moderator, ABA 45th National Conference on Professional Responsibility, Vancouver, Canada, March 2019
• Too Hot to Handle: Ethically Dealing with Information You (Arguably) Shouldn't Have, West LegalEdcenter and American Law Institute Webcast, March 2019
• Attorney Fees & Ethics: It Pays to Be Reasonable, National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA), February 2019
• 2018 Legal Ethics Year in Review: News You Can Use, Institute for Energy Law 70th Annual Oil & Gas Law Conference, Houston, February 2019