Dentons is pleased to share that three of the Firm's lawyers—Lenora Walker Pate, Gaile Pugh Gratton Greene and James ("Jim") S. Williams—have been inducted into the Birmingham Bar Foundation Society of Fellows Class of 2022.

Fellows are extended invitations based on their commitment to the Birmingham legal community, and only a limited number of lawyers and judges are invited. They must be members of the Birmingham Bar Association for a minimum of ten years and demonstrate excellence in their field of practice, civility in their profession and a commitment to the profession and civic leadership.

The tenth annual Fellows dinner honoring new inductees was held on February 25, 2022, at the Vestavia Country Club, where the 2021 and 2022 Classes of Fellows were recognized.

Pate worked for Sirote & Permutt, P.C., now Dentons Sirote PC, for over 35 years with great distinction in her career. She was highly recognized and widely esteemed for her work in health care and health care law. She was recognized by Best Lawyers® as the Health Care Law "Lawyer of the Year" in Birmingham for two years, was named a 2020 "Top Attorney" by Birmingham Magazine, ran for Governor of Alabama and was appointed to numerous commissions and task forces by former Governor Bob Riley. Surrounded by family and friends, Pate passed away peacefully on June 23, 2021, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Greene is a shareholder in Dentons Sirote's Employment and Labor practice, where she has considerable experience litigating employment claims. Greene advises clients on the development and implementation of workplace policies and procedures to ensure legal compliance. She also conducts investigations of discrimination claims and employee misconduct and performs labor audits. Her practice has spanned over three decades. During that time, Greene has garnered an impressive number of awards and recognitions. She is a Fellow of the Alabama Law Foundation and has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© in Litigation–Labor and Employment every year since 2012. In addition, she was named to B-Metro Magazine's list of Top Women Attorneys and to the Birmingham Business Journal's "Who's Who in Law" list for 2019, among others.

Williams is a shareholder in Dentons Sirote's Litigation practice, where he leads the Dentons Sirote Insurance Litigation team. Now in his thirty-first year, Williams handles civil litigation, with a particular focus on life, health and disability insurance litigation; insurance coverage disputes; banking litigation, having served as general counsel to a local community bank for many years; trust, estate, and probate litigation; shareholder oppression and derivative lawsuits; construction litigation and all forms of commercial litigation on behalf of individuals and businesses. He has been recognized by Mid-South Super Lawyers® every year since 2011 and by The Best Lawyers in America© in Litigation–Insurance every year since 2018, in Insurance Law since 2020 and in Mortgage Banking Foreclosure Law for 2022.