Baptist’s Duckett finds professional purpose in service

Law Talk profile for The Memphis Daily News

Dec. 9, 2010

Attorney Greg Duckett is a man motivated by service to his community.

It is this commitment that has led him to the Tennessee Board of Regents, where he serves as vice chairman, membership on the Tennessee Election Commission and the boards of the Memphis College of Art, the National Civil Rights Museum and the Liberty Bowl Festival Association.

As senior vice president and corporate counsel for Baptist Memorial Health Care, Duckett was attracted to the work because “we all work for a purpose, and a number of us are blessed to have part of that purpose be more than just a salary to maintain our personal needs, but it’s that element of … I did something to help someone else, and Baptist, being a health care provider and service-oriented, fulfills that mission and need for me.”

Duckett, 50, is a native Memphian and graduate of Hillcrest High School who went on to Oberlin College in Ohio for his undergraduate work before returning home to receive his juris doctorate from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.

An interest in elected office guided his early years of college and the realization that so many elected officials are lawyers, as well as one of the most famous lawyers of the day, helped him narrow that focus.

“When you look during my era, it was the “Perry Mason” programs, but the real driving force was the public service component and, looking at what public officials had as a background and career, it piqued my interest,” he said … (read more)