On May 1, a day devoted to celebrating the rule of law and its contributions to freedom, Selma Cash Paty had a nightcap and went to bed.
The 89-year-old pioneer attorney never woke up. Her family said Paty died from natural causes.
Paty was an institution in Chattanooga.
The revered attorney had served as president of the Chattanooga Bar Association and president of the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association. She was a member of the National Association of Trial Advocates, a member of the Juvenile Court Commission and a member of the Tennessee Commission on the Status of Women. She argued a case before the Tennessee Supreme Court at a time when male judges thought women shouldn’t practice law. And she fiercely believed in defending the disenfranchised against the courts system and the political villains of the world – “thus always to tyrants.”
“She feared no one, and everyone feared her,” said attorney Brandy Spurgin.