Lucian T. Pera

Lucian focuses his national practice on legal ethics and lawyer regulation. For more than 30 years, he has represented lawyers, law firms, clients and businesses that work with the legal profession on professional responsibility issues. His matters include lawyer discipline, legal malpractice and expert witness work. He also advises lawyers, firms, businesses and investors on proposed ventures, particularly business models new to the legal services market.

Lucian’s advisory work addresses the ethical and lawful use of innovative marketing techniques and lawyers’ relationships with vendors, including marketers, outsourcing providers and litigation funders. He has helped lawyers and law firms establish and maintain compliance when offering non-legal ancillary services. He speaks and writes extensively about ethical and regulatory questions arising from changes in the legal services market and is the founding chair of the Practising Law Institute’s annual full-day program, “The Ethics of NewLaw.”

His work on professional responsibility has extended to the development of standards for lawyer conduct. Lucian was the youngest member of the ABA’s “Ethics 2000” Commission, which rewrote the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and served for three years as chair of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility. The Center awarded him its Michael Franck Award, its highest honor for career work in ethics and professional responsibility.

Alongside his ethics practice, Lucian has represented media outlets since the early years of his career in defamation and invasion-of-privacy claims and in matters involving access to courtrooms, public records and government meetings. His civil litigation experience also spans commercial, personal injury and intellectual property disputes, as well as state and federal appeals. Chambers USA ranks him Band 2 for Litigation: General Commercial in Tennessee.

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).

• Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D. | 1985
• Princeton University, A.B. | 1982

Bar Admissions

• Arizona
• Tennessee

Court Admissions

• United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas
• United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
• United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
• United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

• Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year – Memphis Appellate Practice, 2027
• Chambers USA - Recognized Practitioner in Litigation: Tennessee, 2024-2026
• Thomson Reuters Stand-Out Lawyers
• 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; Legal Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs; Litigation - First Amendment; Media Law
• Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year – Memphis Health Care Law, 2026; 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 2006-2025
• "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 also writes and speaks frequently, both nationally and in Tennessee, on legal ethics and professional responsibility and media law. In addition, he routinely conducts presentations and seminars for national audiences.

• "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, June 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