John Lewis Wardlaw

Lew Wardlaw practices primarily in the state and federal courts of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. He is admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States of America, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the United States District Courts for all three Tennessee divisions and for the two Arkansas divisions. He has extensive appellate court experience. He concentrates on general civil litigation with emphases on commercial transportation defense, land use and zoning law, administrative law, premises liability, and employment issues. In addition to litigation, Lew appears regularly before local and regional legislative and administrative bodies.

Lew is an active on-call member of the firm’s transportation defense practice group and part of its 24/7 Rapid Response Team. He is available to quickly respond to his transportation clients’ needs with respect to serious trucking injuries, fatalities, and catastrophic losses. Lew has served as Chairperson of the American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Commercial Transportation Litigation Committee and continues his service to the transportation community as a past Chair and current Vice-Chair of the Commercial Transportation and Litigation General Committee.

Lew is a member of the Memphis, Tennessee and American Bar Associations. He is a Fellow of both the American Bar Foundation and the Memphis Bar Foundation, and is a graduate of Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Law and the Memphis Bar Association Leadership Forum. Lew has been active in the Leo Bearman, Sr. American Inn of Court and is proud of his six years of service as a director of the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law Alumni Board from 2004 through 2010 – during which time the law school moved to its historic downtown location. Law & Politics, the publisher of Super Lawyers, named Lew to its annual listing of “Rising Stars” in 2009 (Land Use/Zoning), 2011 (Transportation) and 2013 (Transportation). He was selected by his peers for inclusion in the 27th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America© for his work in Land Use and Zoning.

Lew is a past member of the Board of Directors for Promise Academy, Inc., a City of Memphis charter school, and previously served on the Advisory Board for Shelby Residential and Vocational Services, Inc. (SRVS).

Lew is a native Memphian and a graduate of Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School. Following his graduation from the Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, Lew received his Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Juris Doctor (JD) degrees from the University of Memphis. He joined Martin, Tate, Morrow & Marston in 2003 where he is a director and shareholder. Prior to joining the firm, Lew worked extensively in land use and zoning matters as a planner with the City of Germantown Community Development Department and consultant to the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development.