Prather parlays experience into job as ALSAC counsel

Law Talk profile for The Memphis Daily News

Jan. 10, 2013

After 12 years with Martin Tate Morrow & Marston PC, attorney Lauri Prather has made the move to in-house counsel with ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Specifically, Prather will be one of five attorneys working within ALSAC, the fundraising arm of the hospital.

Prather, who began at ALSAC on New Year’s Eve, said she can already tell it is a unique work environment.

“Even in orientation and their boot camp over here it’s pretty clear that everybody is here, not just to have a job, but more to support the mission here, and everybody is pretty passionate about it in a great way,” she said. “For everybody here, their clients are the children of St. Jude.”

Prather’s commitment to bettering the community is seen in her work as a board member of Hope House and the Junior League of Memphis, civic engagement enthusiastically supported by her previous employer.

The mother of two – son Hays, 7; and daughter, Wright, 4 – found that it was becoming more difficult for the hands-on volunteer work as her career and her kids’ activities demanded more time.

“I had always thought that it would be nice to parlay my private firm experience into some sort of nonprofit experience,” she said.

Another impetus for her move to ALSAC was the loss of her mother to cancer in 2010. It prompted her to run the St. Jude Memphis Marathon and to become more familiar with the mission of the hospital … (read more)