Jerry H. Summers is a practicing attorney in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Since beginning the practice of law in 1966, Summers has served as an assistant district attorney, a municipal judge, and in private practice. Except for seven years, between the ages of seven and fourteen when he lived in St. Petersburg, Florida, Summers has lived his entire life in Chattanooga, Tennessee.He has argued cases before the United States and Tennessee Supreme Court and has been involved in numerous landmark decisions in both civil and criminal law. His peers in the legal profession have elected him to membership in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, American College of Trial Lawyers, International Society of Barristers, American Board of Trial Advocates, American Board of Criminal Lawyers, and he has been selected every year since 1983 as one of the Best Lawyers in America, in both personal injury and criminal law. By an unsolicited vote of the lawyers of Tennessee, he has consistently been selected as one of the "Best 100 Lawyers in Tennessee" and "Mid-South Super Lawyers." Summers' philanthropy and community service has been honored by civic, educational, and professional organizations. Orange Grove Center and the Chattanooga Bar Association have both honored him as philanthropist of the year. In 2007, Central High School selected him as a distinguished alumnus at its Centennial Celebration. In 2014, Summers was designated as the Distinguished Alumnus at the University of the South at Sewanee and in 2016, he was named by the University of Tennessee at Knoxville as a distinguished alumnus.
