March 27, 2024
Eugene Elliott and Lisa Wilson Receive Chambers Award for Bar Service
Two longstanding and tireless volunteers to the legal profession, Eugene M. Elliott Jr. of Roanoke and Lisa A. Wilson of Alexandria are the co-recipients of the 2024 Edward L. Chambers Jr. Lifetime Bar Service Award.
The award was established to recognize exemplary lawyers who have enhanced the legal profession in Virginia by their extensive and longstanding commitment of time, knowledge, and leadership on Virginia State Bar boards, committees, sections, or conferences. Both Elliott and Wilson were nominated by Phillip V. Anderson of Frith Anderson + Peake PC in Roanoke.
Anderson wrote of Wilson, “Despite the demands of her job as a prosecutor and administrator, Lisa found time to volunteer with the Virginia State Bar. She began by serving on the Virginia State Bar’s Fourth District Disciplinary Committee in 2006. Her outstanding service led her to be appointed by the Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court to the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board in 2013, culminating in her being named Board Chair in 2018, becoming the first African American woman elected to that position.”
In addition to her involvement with the Disciplinary Committee, Wilson has served on VSB Council, on the Executive Committee, on the Special Committee on Rules and Procedures, on the Committee on Budget & Finance, on the Clients’ Protection Fund Board, and on the Professionalism Course Faculty. Beyond her work with VSB, Wilson served on the Church Council at the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
In his nomination of Elliott, Anderson said: “Gene’s outstanding reputation as an attorney led his peers to elect him President of the Roanoke Bar Association (RBA) in 2005. His leadership of the RBA in 2005 was so exemplary that the Virginia State Bar recognized Gene with the Local Bar Leader of the Year award that same year. He went on to serve as president of the Roanoke Bar Association Foundation. Gene’s many contributions were recognized by his peers when he was elected as a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation, a recognition limited to only one percent of Virginia attorneys.”
Elliott has served on the VSB Council, on the Executive Committee for six years, on the Committee on Rules and Procedures, on the Budget and Finance Committee, on the Clients’ Protection Fund Board, and as chair of the Committee on Lawyer Referral and the Conference of Local and Specialty Bar Associations. He also received a commendation from the Virginia General assembly for his service as the Local Bar Leader of the Year and for his civic activities. In Roanoke, he served as the first president of the Mill Mountain Zoo to prevent it from being closed. A former president of the Virginia Museum of Transportation, he has continued to serve on its Executive Committee for more than 40 years. He graduated from Marshall University, Washington & Lee University School of Law, and Virginia Episcopal School, where he served as president of the Alumni Association and Trustee.
The Chambers Award for Bar Service will be presented to Wilson and Elliott at the VSB Annual Meeting in Virginia Beach on Wednesday, May 29, 2024.