September 13, 2022
Lonnie D. Nunley, III Receives 2022 Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award
The 2022 Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award has been awarded to long-serving litigator Lonnie “Chip” D. Nunley, III of Richmond. Nunley was selected by community nomination backed by his reported 600–1,100 hours of annual pro bono work in the years since the Virginia State Bar began collecting pro bono reports.
Nunley has served as Hunton Andrew Kurth's Richmond pro bono chair for six years and has led more than 60,000 pro bono hours dedicated by Richmond lawyers under his leadership. Of those he personally has given more than 5,000 hours to pro bono clients over the past decade. Additionally, Nunley has been the partner in charge of the firm's George H. Hettrick Church Hill pro bono office since 2015.
Nunley is or has been a board member of many volunteer organizations for pro bono service. He is a past president and current member of the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society’s Board of Directors, a former member of the Board of the Legal Aid Justice Center and a member of HomeAgain’s Board. Nunley is also the former chair of the Bar's Standing Committee on Access to Legal Services. Since his 2013 appointment, he has served the Supreme Court of Virginia on its Access to Justice Commission.
Since graduating for the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984 he has represented individuals and small, medium, and large-sized in Virginia and across the country. He has handled cases involving environmental contamination, aircraft product liability, consumer products product liability, commercial disputes arising from contracts and leases, and business tort claims. He has litigated matters, including rate cases and large-asset purchase applications, before the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
Nunley has previously received the Richmond Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award in 1990 for his work on the bar’s model pro bono housing and domestic law program. Additionally, he received the George Hettrick Award from the Greater Richmond Bar Foundation for his work representing tenants in an apartment complex in Richmond's Northside. Most recently in 2020, he received the John C. Kenny Pro Bono Award from the Richmond Bar Association (RBA) for his outstanding achievements in pro bono service.
Nunley will be presented with the award on Oct. 19 during the Pro Bono Conference reception dinner. Justice Stephen R. McCullough will be the keynote speaker and VSB President Stephanie Grana will be the emcee for the night. Registration for the Conference is open at https://bit.ly/ProBonoCon22.
The Powell Award was established by the Standing Committee on Access to Legal Services of the Virginia State Bar to honor attorneys and attorney groups that have made outstanding pro bono contributions.