The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) has named Anne Ware Lewis the 2019 honoree of the RNLA’s Robert J. Horn Chairman’s Award. This recognition, posthumously honoring Lewis, marks her sustaining legacy in Republican circles both in Georgia and nation-wide. She was honored during the RNLA’s National Election Law Seminar in Charlotte, North Carolina, on August 2, 2019.
A skilled elections attorney, Lewis graduated from the University of Georgia, and Georgia State Law School, spending her career with Strickland Brockington Lewis LLP, where she was Partner. Her career included service as General Counsel to the Georgia Republican Party, a post she held since 2009, and in 2011, she was named to the Elections Advisory Council for the State of Georgia by then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp. She also served as a past co-chair of the Supreme Court of Georgia’s Committee on Civil Justice. She was a member of the State Bar of Georgia’s Indigent Defense Committee and Post-Conviction Relief Committee and served her community as a past president of the St. Thomas More Catholic School Board of Education. She was a longtime member of the RNLA Board of Governors.
Lewis’s passing inspired a number of heartfelt tributes. Earlier this spring, the Atlanta Journal - Constitution published a memorial that featuring a number of condolences from both sides of the aisle: “Anne Lewis was an amazing attorney who always treated me with respect and kindness,” said state Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democratic lawyer from Atlanta.
RNLA Co-Chair Joanne Young expressed: “Anne Lewis was a legend among lawyers and a champion for election integrity in Georgia and throughout the Country. Her unique talent as a lawyer and leader was out matched only by the graciousness and generosity of spirit she showed to all she met. She was a role model for women lawyers and will be greatly missed. While on a distant shore, she is surely in a greater light for all time.”
John Ryder, former RNLA Chair memorialized Lewis, stating: “She regularly graced these seminars with her wisdom, knowledge and experience. She was our comrade in arms in the struggle for fair, open and honest elections. She fought for the Republican Party in Georgia and helped many of us carry on the fight around the country. She was a fighter, and her battles with the Democrats were only a preview of her later battle. She was tenacious and courageous on both fronts. Our ranks have been reduced by one of our best, but the knowledge and experience she shared with each of us, with all of us, will enable us to continue the fight.”
Former RNLA Board of Governors member Doug Chalmers Jr. of Chalmers & Adams recalled that over the past 17 years, Lewis and he worked together on a number of political and legal matters. “At other times we were competitors, but we were always friends,” he said. “She set a standard of professional excellence, collegiality and good cheer to which all lawyers should aspire. She fought her illness with courage and grace, never complaining, and she always somehow stayed focused on how others were doing even though she must have been suffering.”
RNLA Executive Director Michael Thielen reflected: “Anne was a great friend and one of the kindest and brightest lawyers I’ve had the pleasure to know. She was an intellectual leader and a brilliant strategist, always willing to support important causes such as voter ID. She represented and advised Republicans in redistricting, helped lead the Georgia Republican Party, and was a longtime RNLA leader and volunteer. She will be sorely missed, but she has left a legacy of service that will have a lasting impact for the benefit of the Republican Party and the entire country.”
The Robert J. Horn Chairman’s Award is an award presented to individuals for nationally distinguished service to the citizens of the United States of America for protecting the honesty and accuracy of elections. It is presented annually at the National Election Law Seminar in honor of the Founding Chairman, who succeeded in significantly advancing the integrity of elections throughout his or her professional lifetime by founding and promoting the Republican National Lawyers Association.
The press release can be viewed and downloaded here.