The Alabama State Bar Association recently selected Athens attorney Patrick Chesnut for its 2017 leadership forum.

Chesnut served as Limestone County Assistant District Attorney from 2002-2008 before he entered private practice. In January, the Alabama Supreme Court sided with Chesnut’s arguments and reversed the lower courts’ decision in a dispute over inaccurate interpretations of city of Huntsville zoning ordinances.

A father of five, Chesnut is a member of the Athens First United Methodist Church and is active in the Athens community. He served on the Athens Grease Festival committee from 2012-2014 and is a founding member of the Athens Saturday Market Committee. He also coaches youth sports, including girls’ soccer, at the Athens Sportsplex.

Chesnut is past president of the Limestone County Bar Association and is a member of the law firm of Ables Baxter, & Parker at 109 West Washington St.

The Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum, now in its 11th year, develops leadership skills and values among promising lawyers each year. In 2013, the Leadership Forum received the E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award from the American Bar Association for advancing servant leadership through a “dynamic, highly effective model for nurturing and developing leadership skills and values among qualified, promising lawyers.”