The Evan Marshall Memorial Scholarship Fund Proudly presents

Footsteps of Heroes

Memorial 5K Run/Walk

Oconee Veterans Park – Watkinsville, GA

Saturday, June 11, 2011 – 8:00AM

For more details and entry form see the events page.

Atlanta – The State Bar of Georgia has honored the memory of Army Cpl. Evan Andrew Marshall, a soldier from Athens who was killed in action in Iraq in January 2008, with the naming of a new award – the Marshall-Tuttle Award – to be presented annually to a Georgia lawyer for outstanding service to the Bar’s recently established Military Legal Assistance Program.

Marshall, son of Athens attorney Andrew H. Marshall and Sheila A. Marshall, attended Athens Academy and Cedar Shoals High School, where he graduated in 2004. Upon graduation, he joined the Army, trained at Fort Benning, Ga., and was assigned to the 1^st Battalion, 8^th Infantry Regiment, 3^rd Brigade Combat Team, 4^th Infantry Division, stationed at Fort Carson. Colo. He initially served in Iraq from December 2005 until December 2006 and returned there for his second tour of duty in December 2007.

During his service in the Army, Marshall was awarded numerous decorations, including the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. He also earned the Army Commendation Medal, three Army Achievement Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Medal. He also earned the Combat Infantryman Badge and Expert Weapons Qualification Badge. While on patrol in Mosul, he and four other American soldiers died in a battle that began when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle.

The Marshall-Tuttle Award was also named in honor and memory of U.S. Circuit Judge Elbert Parr Tuttle, who served in the Army for 30 years, was a founding partner of the Atlanta law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan and served as a federal judge for 43 years. Tuttle also provided pro bono legal services to many people, including John Johnson, a young Marine. In 1938, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Johnson v. Zerbst that counsel must be provided for all defendants in federal criminal trials who cannot afford to hire their own attorneys.

“The State Bar determined that these two men, Evan Marshall and Elbert Tuttle, each in their own ways, contributed mightily to the State of Georgia and the nation and to the ideal of service and sacrifice for the public good,” said Charles L. Ruffin, chair of the Bar’s Military Legal Assistance Program Committee.

The inaugural Marshall-Tuttle Award was presented during the Bar’s midyear meeting Jan. 15 in Nashville, Tenn., to Drew N. Early of Lynn & Shewmaker LLC in Atlanta. During 2010, Early provided legal assistance without charge to several service members and veterans, in addition to teaching and mentoring other Georgia lawyers about military law to complement their civilian practice. Early is a 21-year active duty Army veteran and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Georgia State University College of Law (cum laude).

Over the past 14 months, the Military Legal Assistance Program has provided legal assistance to more than 300 military service members and veterans on a pro bono or reduced-fee basis. In addition to addressing the unmet need for legal assistance among service members, veterans and reservists, the program has been instrumental in providing Continuing Legal Education training to more than 200 lawyers seeking accreditation to practice before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Currently, more than 105,000 men and women from Georgia are on active military duty or serve in the National Guard or Reserves, and more than 765,000 veterans reside in the state.

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