Photo, click here for a high resolution jpeg of LaRoche (112 MB) Photo, click here for a high resolution jpeg of Hyatt (108 MB)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Atlanta attorney Wayne S. Hyatt has been named the 2003 Distinguished Alumnus of the Vanderbilt University Law School.
Hyatt, who earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Vanderbilt in 1965 and graduated from the Law School in 1968, will receive the award during the school’s Leadership Dinner April 5 at the Law School.
Criteria for the award include exemplary professional accomplishments and recognized leadership within one’s field of endeavor. Recipients of the award must also demonstrate qualities that reflect the values of a Vanderbilt University Law School education, according to Kent D. Syverud, dean and Garner Anthony Professor of Law.
“Wayne Hyatt is the leading lawyer in the world in representing master planned communities and their developers,” Syverud said. “He dominates the burgeoning field of local government law through private neighborhood associations—a field that ranges far beyond property law to include issues of representative government, rights and responsibilities of neighbors, freedom of expression and the environment.
“The author or contributing author of 12 leading books on planned communities, condominium association law and community associations, Wayne has taught on the faculties of Emory University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Georgia while building a premier law firm in Atlanta. He is a leader at Vanderbilt University, where he serves on the Board of Trust and is a past president of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association. We at the Law School are pleased to celebrate this great lawyer’s lawyer, with the 2003 Distinguished Alumnus Award,” Syverud said.
Hyatt is chairman of in Hyatt & Stubblefield, P.C., a law firm based in Atlanta. He is a member of the American Law Institute, a trustee of the Urban Land Institute, president-elect of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and a member of the board of governors of the Anglo-American Real Property Institute. He has been editor of the Community Association Law Reporter since 1978. Hyatt received the Distinguished Service Award from the Law School in 1996.
The Distinguished Alumnus Award was established in 1988. Previous recipients have included George Cates Jr., Pauline Gore, James Sasser, Gilbert Merritt Jr., Richard Sinkfield, James Cheek III, Tone Grant, Fred Graham, Douglas Henry, Hugh Morgan, James Neal, Lucius Burch Jr., Sen. Fred Thompson and Aubrey Harwell.
Also on April 5, Richard F. (Ted) LaRoche Jr. will be given the Law School’s Distinguished Service Award.
LaRoche, a graduate of Dartmouth College, earned his law degree from Vanderbilt in 1970. He recently retired as senior vice president of Murfreesboro-based National HealthCare Corporation, although he still serves on the company’s board of directors as secretary and general counsel. He is on the board of directors of National Health Investors, based in Murfreesboro, and is general counsel and secretary of National Health Realty, also based in Murfreesboro. LaRoche is also a board member and audit committee chairman of Z-TEL Technologies, Inc., of Tampa, Fla.
“The son of a Vanderbilt Law graduate and father of an incoming Vanderbilt Law student, Ted LaRoche served as a founding member of the Vanderbilt Law School Alumni Board,” Syverud said. “He served on the alumni search committees for both Dean John Costonis and myself and has played a leading role in both the Dean’s Council and the Law School’s successful building campaign. He now serves as co-chair of the Law School’s capital campaign. Ted’s dedication to the Law School and willingness to cheerfully pitch in on many occasions to help the school move forward warrant the honor of the School’s 2003 Distinguished Service Award,” Syverud said.
The Distinguished Service Award was first presented in 1987, when the dean recognized the former presidents of the Law Alumni Association and Dean’s Council. Recipients have included William McDonnell, Mrs. Cecil Sims, John Beasley II, Paul Hartman, Stephen Potts, Garner Anthony, Mary Moody Wade, Henry Bushkin, Robert Brundige, Edward Hardin, Wayne Hyatt, David Partlett, Don Welch, Kay Simmons, Richard Aldrich, Joe Wyatt, Joe McCarty, Tom McCoy and Pauline Aranas.
More information on the law school can be found at www.vanderbilt.edu/law. Media contact: Susanne Loftis, 615-322-NEWS, susanne.loftis@vanderbilt.edu