Frank Winston Fellows

Will Perry (‘11) is a partner in the Memphis office of Butler Snow LLP where he is a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group. During school, law firm clerkships exposed Perry to commercial litigation and helped him realize his interest in the area. Perry took advantage of the numerous opportunities at Winston Law to develop his oral and written advocacy skills, serving as Chair of the Moot Court Board, participating in traveling moot court and mock trial teams, serving as a staff editor on Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law, working as a Legal Process teaching assistant, and completing an externship with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In addition to completing the Advocacy Concentration in law school, Perry also took courses in the Business Concentration which he says, “gave me early exposure to issues that I now see every day in practice.”

Michele Johnson (‘94) serves as co-founder and Executive Director of the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC), a nonprofit law firm. For nearly three decades, TJC has worked tirelessly to ensure that low-income Tennesseans can access the health care and support they need to thrive. Johnson explains, “I’ve fought—sometimes in the halls of the legislature, sometimes in courtrooms, and often in the court of public opinion—to make sure that every child, no matter their zip code or disability, can get the care they need.” One of her many achievements was to lead a class action that resulted in sweeping reforms on the quality of care for 665,000 children on TennCare. Johnson says, “I came to law school knowing I wanted to use the law to fight for justice. At UT, I learned the skills to turn my dream into a reality.”  Johnson says one of her favorite classes was Civil Rights with Professor John Sobieski. She explains, “He literally wrote the book and his lessons have enabled me to bring and win cases impacting the health care for hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans.” As a student, Johnson co-founded the Pro Bono Project, an organization whose work continues today.

Mili Shah (JD ‘12, MBA ‘12 ) credits the Winston Law business law curriculum in helping her become “a lawyer who thinks like a businesswoman.” In 2022, after working in an Atlanta law firm and a Texas bank, she joined her family’s real estate businesses, Imperial Investments Group, Inc. and Tenant Managers, LLC. She leads the companies’ legal, financing, leasing, and franchising aspects. As a lawyer, she represents the companies in the acquisition and development of a real estate portfolio that spans hospitality, multifamily, industrial, retail, and office asset classes. She enjoys the autonomy to think like an entrepreneur and attributes much of her thought process to the JD-MBA dual-degree program at the University of Tennessee.

Chris Dunbar ('19) serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division of the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, enforcing consumer protection and antitrust laws, often in collaboration with federal partners and sister states. “Protecting individuals and businesses from unlawful trade practices is immensely rewarding—and I credit Winston Law for helping me identify that passion,” Dunbar says. "Winston Law’s talented, gracious professors—and the broader Tennessee legal community—afforded me remarkable opportunities to explore various potential paths. During my final year on campus, I was fortunate to take Professor Maurice Stucke’s antitrust class, which inspired my career and meaningfully influenced my future.”