1. Position: Attorney and Partner
Company: Ford & Harrison LLP
Basics: Perl, who is the recipient of
numerous honors, is about to be recognized
once again at next month’s inaugural
humanitarian awards dinner by Diversity
Memphis.
A Pearl in Life's Oyster: Perl to receive humanitarian award next month
LESLEY J. GUDEHUS | Special to The Daily News
A dedication to fair and just treatment for all has
driven attorney Arnold E. Perl's life and career. Perl
has been a labor and employment lawyer for some
40 years.
After earning his law degree from the University of
Illinois in 1963, Perl's first job was as a trial attorney
for the National Labor Relations Board in Memphis.
He soon became advisory counsel for the NLRB in
Washington. Two years later, he returned to Chicago
to work for the firm of McDermott, Will & Emery.
Then he came back to Memphis in 1969, and in 1973
became a founding member of Young & Perl PLC.
Perl recently dissolved his own law firm to join Ford
& Harrison LLP, which is larger and has a variety of
attorneys with different specialties.
Ford & Harrison, founded in Atlanta in 1978, concentrates its
practice in all areas of labor and employment law, including
employment litigation and class actions, business immigration
and employee benefits. Ford & Harrison has 16 offices across
the country and has more than 150 labor and employment
lawyers.
Diversity Memphis will honor Perl and four other recipients at
the organization's first ever Humanitarian Awards dinner May
11 at The Peabody Hotel. The award recognizes Perl's
commitment to promoting tolerance and embracing diversity in Memphis, but his body of work has
helped people nationwide.
Formed in 2005, Diversity Memphis carries on many of the principles of the National Conference of
Community Justice as a human relations organization dedicated to bringing together people of
diverse cultural, religious or racial backgrounds. Programs include summer camps for teens, adult
workshops, walks, cultural festivals, multi-faith dialogs and other programs that teach people to be
more tolerant and embrace diversity. Other recipients of the Humanitarian Award this year are Jim
and Lucia Gilliland, Deanie Parker and Thomas W. Scherer.
Among his numerous other national and local honors and appointments, Perl serves as chairman of
the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority and as chairman of the New Memphis Arena Public
Building Authority, which was responsible for the construction of FedExForum. He is secretary and
counsel of the Memphis Regional Chamber and chairman emeritus of the Labor and Employment
Law Section of the Tennessee Bar Association.
In 1994, he was one of 25 management attorneys selected to serve on the NLRB Advisory panel

2. appointed by NLRB Chairman William Gould. Perl also received the Communicator of the Year
Award for 2004 from the Memphis chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
Perl is on the board of Temple Israel. In 1983, he and his wife, Mary Lynn, worked together to
create a presence in Memphis for the American Israel Affairs Committee, a lobbying group in
Washington, of which Perl served on the executive committee.
Born in Beaumont, Texas, in 1939, Perl grew up in Chicago. He and his wife have two daughters and
six grandchildren.
Q: What does receiving the Diversity Memphis Humanitarian Award mean to you?
A: I'm humbled by the honor and recognition. It is not as much about me as it is about the
organizations with which I've been deeply involved, including the Airport Authority, the New
Memphis Arena Public Building Authority, the Memphis Regional Chamber and the faith-based
institution, Temple Israel. I think all of these institutions have a common thread to do good for the
benefit and welfare for the citizens of the Memphis region. Of course, none of this would have been
accomplished without my partner in life, Mary Lynn, who really is the moral compass of our family.
She is my wife of 41 years. Mayor [A C] Wharton received this award when the organization was still
the NCCJ. He said very few awards touched him, but he always yearned to be the recipient of this
award.
Q: How did you become interested in labor and employment law?
A: I became inspired by a teacher, Robin Flemming. He was a giant of a person who had a teaching
appointment between the law school and the Labor Relations Institute at the University of Illinois.
He did more than shed light on the subject; he brought it to life. He considered labor relations
issues to be something that needed to be solved through personal relations, an opportunity to bring
common-sense solutions in a collaborative model, to help people come together.
I gave up a teaching appointment at Indiana University to switch to labor-management relations.
My first job was in Memphis as a trial attorney for the National Labor Relations Board before going
to Washington for two years. After that, I joined the Chicago firm McDermott, Will & Emery. Then I
came back to Memphis in 1969. Mary Lynn is from here. I've been in Memphis ever since.
Q: How long have you been involved with the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority?
A: I've been with the Airport Authority for 23 years and the chairman for nine and a half years. I'm
the third chairman. My predecessors were Ned Cook, who served for 12 years, and Jim Easer, who
served for 15. The Airport Authority is the governing body for Memphis International Airport and
sets policy for the operation of the airport. Memphis International Airport is clearly the economic
engine of our region. It has a $20.5 billion - that's a "B" - annual economic impact. That exceeds
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Q: How have you seen the events of Sept. 11, 2001, affect airport operations?
A: That has dramatically changed security in common areas and the boarding areas. It has affected
every aspect of airport and airline operations. In Memphis, one of the greatest assets is that security
is still relatively hassle free compared to other airports.

3. Q: What does your work with the New Memphis Arena Public Building Authority entail?
A: The challenge there is that public building projects - nationally, including our own here in
Memphis - are wildly late and wildly over budget. Our goal was to build the
FedExForum on time and on budget. We also made a commitment to maximum minority
participation. Looking back, it's good to see we did what we said we'd do - with record minority
participation.
Q: The local PRSA chapter selected you as Communicator of the Year for 2004. Why do you think
communication is important?
A: I think it has to do with effective leadership. Communication is the essence of any relationship at
work or at home. Effective communications are indispensable to creating high-performance teams,
so to be honored by the Memphis chapter of PRSA was, once again, humbling, but I regard it as
recognition that the organizations with which I was connected worked well. Good communication
shows that visions and missions make a difference, and guiding principles are essential to get the
job done.