Chris Pape nominated as young professional of the year

Lanier Ford attorney Chris Pape has been nominated as a young professional of the year, an award sponsored by the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce as part of their small business awards program. The final winner will be announced on August 30, 2016.

A large part of Mr. Pape’s practice consists of working with school boards to navigate complex employment, constitutional, and equity matters. In 2014, Mr. Pape began working, extensively, on Huntsville City Schools’ desegregation litigation, Hereford and the United States v. Huntsville City Board of Education. Mr. Pape was instrumental in litigating this matter in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Following the court’s order to mediate this matter, he was an integral part of the team of lawyers that represented the Huntsville City Board of Education in court-ordered mediation. As a member of that team, Mr. Pape helped craft the joint proposed consent order between the United States and the Huntsville City Board of Education. By participating in mediation and by presenting the proposed consent order to the court, Mr. Pape developed extensive knowledge about the design and implementation of equitable desegregation devices, such as school zone lines, magnet programs, and majority-to-minority transfer programs. Mr. Pape uses this experience as he works with school system administrators to ensure faithful implementation of such measures.