Note: This story was updated Oct. 14 to correct the first name of attorney Anthony “Bud” Jackson.
Maxfield “Max” Bahner, 89, a longtime Chattanooga business attorney who brushed shoulders with CEOs and Supreme Court justices while also serving as a mentor to generations of local attorneys and taking on pro bono criminal cases, died Friday, according to friends.
Bahner, a Carson-Newman University graduate who obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, practiced for decades at Chattanooga-based Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel.
Funeral arrangements are to be announced later.
Bahner has left a lasting impression on many.
“He wasn’t just a great lawyer, he was a great man,” said Anthony “Bud” Jackson, an attorney at Chambliss who is among the lawyers who consider Bahner a mentor. “He loved practicing law. He was famous for saying if you had 12 lives to live, he would live every one of them as a lawyer, which we would tease him about. That’s how much he loved it. He loved meeting people, getting to know them.”
One thing Jackson will never forget about Bahner was his treatment of people, he said.
“Yeah, he would often rub shoulders with CEOs of companies and some of the great lawyers, the Supreme Court judges and the like,” Jackson said. “But he was just as interested in getting to know the people that are often marginalized and not noticed.”
Jackson said his understanding was that Bahner had once been “pretty serious” about becoming a minister but decided law was his real calling.
“And I’ll tell you, he really kept that balance,” Jackson said.
Hal North, another Chambliss attorney, called Bahner the “consummate Southern gentleman.”
“And that’s almost rare in these days and times. I was fortunate to be mentored,” North said in a phone conversation. “It’s amazing how many lawyers he mentored over the years. He loved coming into the office” after Bahner stopped practicing. “Just for the camaraderie. He was a blessing to me and so many in the firm. It’s quite a loss to the Chattanooga Bar Association.”
The law firm’s client list includes the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Bahner in one case successfully fought to get a federal Medicare action by whistleblowers alleging fraud by an area-based company that was sealed for four years unsealed.
(READ MORE: Judge scolds prosecutors in whistleblower Medicare fraud case)
Bahner also kept up with goings on in Signal Mountain, where his family lived as late as 2019, when he opposed a new grocery store going in.
State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, called Bahner a “true gentleman” with a dry sense of humor.
“He never met anybody who didn’t wind up being his friend,” said Gardenhire, who had known Bahner for years prior to Gardenhire running for public office.
“We never discussed politics. He was just a friend,” Gardenhire added, noting Bahner loved politics. “He’d say, what do you talk about, Todd, if you don’t talk about politics or business?”
Bahner’s bio at the law firm said his practice concentration was primarily in complex litigation as a senior member of the firm’s litigation section. He handled multimillion dollar cases, health care-related matters involving hospitals, as well as disputes between insurers and physician groups and other matters.
His trial experience included successful defense of large cases involving trade regulation, indemnity claims and other commercial lawsuits, including complex contractual issues and trade regulation matters.
(READ MORE: Chancellor declares Hamilton County attorney’s contract is valid)
Bahner was a president of the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bar associations and for nearly 17 years served in the American Bar Association House of Delegates, leading the Tennessee delegation for nine years. He also served on the Board of Governors of the American Bar Association for three years and on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors during his last year on the board.
In a 2011 interview with the Times Free Press, Bahner said the camaraderie between the firm’s attorneys and their relationships with clients helped Chambliss stay together through the years as other firms split. He cited those same qualities as the reasons why he won the American Bar Association’s annual Pickering award that recognizes legal ability and service to the profession.
He was chair of the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Advisory Commission on the Rules of Civil Procedure for seven years, during which the commission wrote the Tennessee Rules of Evidence, which were adopted by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Bahner chaired the task force to review and recommend changes to the Tennessee Rules of Judicial Conduct, which were adopted by the Supreme Court and which have become influential in revisions in other states.
Bahner is a founding Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and the Chattanooga Bar Foundation and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Association.
He was a member of the Rotary Club, where he served as secretary, vice president and then president in 2001-02, according to a Hamilton County Herald article.
Contact Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-285-9480.