The August 16 issue of the Nashville Business Journal will feature Nashville ’s “Best of the Bar” award winners, an elite collection of attorneys in the Nashville area selected by fellow Nashville attorneys. Included in this special publication are three Murray State University alumni, Michael Peek, Jonathan Rose and Michael Yopp.

The sixth annual awards ceremony to be held Thursday, Aug. 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the Sommet Center in Nashville will showcase these top attorneys who exceed in professionalism, ethics and superior daily practices. Peek, Rose and Yopp are three of 100 award winners selected from thousands of nominees.

Peek, a real estate attorney with Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville , graduated summa cum laude from MSU in 1970 with a bachelor of science degree in history and political science. He received his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1974, the same year he joined Bass, Berry & Sims. A Kentucky native, Peek has served on the Vanderbilt Law School Alumni Board, the former chair of the Board of Trustees of the Murray State University Foundation and served as the MSU Alumni Association president from 1979-80. He is a member of the Nashville, Tenn., and Tennessee Bar associations.

“It’s always nice to be recognized in a positive way by one’s colleagues and members of the Bar, especially when that honor can be shared with such outstanding MSU alumni as Mike Yopp and Jonathan Rose,” says Peek. As a student at MSU, Peek was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. His wife, Patricia Johnston Peek, is a 1970 alumna of MSU.

Rose, an intellectual property attorney for Boult, Cummings, Corners & Berry of Nashville, graduated summa cum laude from MSU in 1994 with a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics and Spanish, and again in 1997 with a masters of education degree in secondary education. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2000. A Murray native, he is a member of the Nashville, Tenn., and Kentucky Bar associations. A bluegrass enthusiast, Rose is a member of the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Yopp, a tax attorney for Waller & Lansden of Nashville , graduated from MSU in 1968 with a bachelor of science degree in biology and history. He earned his law degree from Emory University in 1975 with distinction, later receiving his master of laws in taxation from New York University in 1979. Yopp is a member of the Nashville, Tenn. and American Bar associations, and a retired captain of the U.S. Navy Reserve.

“My selection to “Best of the Bar” is very special because it is based upon the votes of my peers,” Yopp says. As a student at MSU, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Yopp adds, “I not only have fond memories of Murray State , I also have continued friendships with many of my classmates and fraternity brothers through the years. The education I received at Murray State was excellent and gave me the foundation to build my career.”