During Mercer University School of Law’s annual alumni dinner in Atlanta Saturday, February 25, three graduates were honored with prestigious awards.

Ivy N. Cadle, ’07 was presented the Young Alumni Council Volunteer of the Year Award. He is a committed volunteer with the Central Georgia Council of the Boy Scouts of America, to Mercer Law School, where he routinely volunteers for moot court preparation, mock interviews, and as a guest speaker, and with the State Bar of Georgia.

Cadle’s work with the State Bar includes being a member of the executive committee, serving as treasurer, and as a member of the personnel, unified bar, finance, and client security fund committees. Because of his extensive involvement in the State Bar of Georgia Young Lawyers Division (YLD), Cadle was the recipient of the Award of Achievement for Outstanding Service to the YLD and Award of Achievement for Outstanding Service to the Bar. Cadle will assume the position of president-elect of the State Bar of Georgia in June. He also is a past president and treasurer of the Macon Bar Association.

A shareholder with Baker Donelson, Cadle specializes in real estate and property litigation, including eminent domain, land use and zoning issues, and conservation easements throughout the state. As a certified public accountant, he understands his clients’ financial metrics and the risks to their property. His goal is to help his clients get back to their core business sooner so they can focus on what they do best. In 2022, Cadle received Baker Donelson’s Pro Bono Award. He graduated from the University of Georgia (UGA), cum laude, with a bachelor of science degree in accounting and later earned a master’s degree in accounting from UGA. He graduated from Mercer Law School in 2007.

Therese “Tee” S. Barnes, ’81 was honored with the Outstanding Alumna Award. She began her legal career as a civil business litigator with Skinner, Wilson, Strickland, and Benson in Atlanta. After six years in private practice, Barnes was offered a partnership position, but declined in order to focus on her growing family and her children’s education.

In 1987, Barnes became the staff attorney for Judge Harold Banke in the Georgia Court of Appeals where she created a job-sharing program that allowed two people to clerk part-time to fulfill the requirements of a full-time position. Barnes used the job share program while serving as staff attorney to Justice Carol W. Hunstein in the Supreme Court of Georgia from 1992 until 2004.

In 2004 Barnes began working as a chambers staff attorney for Chief Justice Harold Melton. Since 2006, she has served as the clerk and court executive of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Barnes is often credited as the reason the Supreme Court of Georgia is routinely recognized as one of the most efficient courts in the nation. She is now in her third six-year term.

Barnes graduated from Mercer Law School in 1981 after earning bachelor’s degrees in political science and in education, with honors, from the University of Virginia. Later she earned a secondary teaching certificate.

Tomieka R. Daniel, ’02 earned the Alumni Meritorious Service Award. Since graduating, Daniel readily volunteers at Mercer Law School as a speaker to student groups, has served as an adjunct professor, and works with the Black Law Students Association in numerous capacities. Daniel helped start the Clothes Closet for students by donating more than 30 business suits for male and female students.

Daniel is passionate about educating young people on the subject of dating and domestic violence. In 2010, she developed the Teen Dating Violence Prevention Project, which is designed to educate middle school, high school, and college students on how to recognize the indicators of a potentially abusive relationship as well as offer them legal solutions for problematic situations. To date Daniel has presented her project to more than 15,000 students, parents, and educators. She also founded the Secrets & Stilettos Domestic Violence Awareness Program in 2012, which has provided prevention information regarding domestic violence, human sex trafficking, and dating violence to more 1000 women, men, and children in Central Georgia.

She graduated with honors in 1997 from Clark Atlanta University and earned her Juris Doctor degree at Mercer University Law School in 2002. Since graduation, she has been practicing law with Georgia Legal Services concentrating in family law, housing, elder law, and family violence cases for low-income Georgians. Most recently Daniel was appointed as the Deputy Director of the Georgia Legal Services Program. She has received numerous awards and special recognition for her service to her profession and her community.