Attorney Ruby R. Wharton graduated from Boston College Law School in 1969. Upon graduating from law school, Mrs. Wharton was an advocate for indigent clients in housing matters when she worked for the Neighborhood Legal Services Program in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Wharton thereafter came to serve as an assistant public defender in Memphis, Shelby County Tennessee in the Juvenile and Criminal Courts. In 1977, Mrs. Wharton joined the firm of Adams and Wharton as a partner. Upon Mr. Adams' passing, the firm later became Wharton & Wharton & Associates in 1980 when her husband, A C Wharton Jr., joined Mrs. Wharton law firm as her law partner.

 

Mrs. Wharton has practiced extensively in the Circuit, Chancery, and Probate Courts of Shelby County and the Federal Court system. Her practice has afforded her diverse experience in the areas of probate and administration of estates, criminal defense, personal injury, employment discrimination, contract disputes, and domestic relations. Over her many years of practice, Mrs. Wharton has developed as one of her niches, probate litigation, and has tried numerous complex probate matters in and outside of Shelby County.

 

On a professional and civic level, Attorney Ruby Wharton has strived to make an impact and previously served on the Board of the Memphis Airport Authority, providing opinions and guidance on minority hiring and retail concessions matters. Mrs. Wharton also devoted her heart and energy and over twenty-five years to service with the Boy Scouts of America, where, in addition to raising her three biological sons and an adopted son, she helped numerous young men learn the values of community consciousness, hard work and kindness to others. Attorney Wharton also served on the Board of Sacred Heart Southern Missions.

 

Ruby Wharton is widely recognized for her many efforts in the legal system, in the church, and in the community to improve life for minorities and the young. She is known to the larger community as The former First Lady of the Shelby County and City of Memphis, as her husband and co-founder of the Firm, A C Wharton Jr., served as County and City Mayor beginning in 2002 through 2015. However, Mrs. Wharton is known to her family and friends as a woman who has raised six boys, as a woman who exercises regular generosity to all those around her, and as a woman who passionately strives for perfection in her community and her workplace every day.

 

Mrs. Wharton now focuses her law practice in the areas of wills and estates, personal injury, medical malpractice, conservatorships and guardianships, and powers of attorney.