It’s been said that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. If this Mahatma Gandhi quote is true, you can bet Chip Nunley certainly knows himself inside and out.

The long-serving litigator and trusted member of VPLC’s Advisory Council will receive the 2022 Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Pro Bono Award from the Virginia Bar Association at the Pro Bono Conference in October.

Nunley has been a champion of those whose voices may not have been heard within countless housing and domestic law cases.  As the pro bono chair for the Richmond firm Hunton Andrew Kurth, Nunley has led more than 60,000 pro bono hours donated by attorneys under his leadership.

The vast majority of tenants arrive to their eviction hearings without representation, and volunteers like Nunley can change the outcome of their cases simply by helping the tenant explain their story and pointing the judge to the applicable law .

“There’s a lot in the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act,” Nunley said in a 2019 interview with Virginia Lawyer magazine. “But in order to have the benefits of that statute, you need lawyers standing up on behalf of tenants explaining and advocating what that statute means to the judges. It’s like any other area of law — if one side is regularly represented and the other is not, you are likely to see the playing field tilt a little.”

We thank Chip Nunley for more than 30 years of service, leveling the playing field through endless litigation and for mobilizing and leading his fellow attorneys.