Gentry Locke attorney Benjamin Law receives award by Memphis Preservation Society

On October 19, 2018, Gentry Locke attorney Ben Law received the “Law Student of the Year Award” from the Memphis organization Neighborhood Preservation, Inc. for his work on the 2018 legislative amendments to Tennessee’s Neighborhood Preservation Act (“NPA”).

Photo: Brandon Dill

A 2018 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law and former member of the school’s Neighborhood Preservation Clinic, Ben and a small team of Memphis attorneys drafted a comprehensive amendment to the NPA, which received statewide sponsorship and passed unanimously in both the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Senate. Among many changes were the ability to more easily obtain service of process on blighted properties, and a broadened definition of qualified receivers to take over the rehabilitation of such properties. Ben looks forward to seeing how the improved NPA will provide the City of Memphis and other communities across Tennessee more tools in the fight to eliminate blighted properties.