From mediations to meetings to swearing in new lawyers

By Charles J. Gearhiser

The year 2001 was interesting for me, filled with meetings, travels and personal challenges. To start the year, I was defending a complicated case brought by T.O. Helton where both sides were entrenched in their views regarding the construction of a shareholder's agreement. Several lawyers were to be witnesses and had been deposed at length. With numerous complex motions before her, Judge Marie Williams ordered us to mediate the case. I suggested Dan Nolan of Clarksville and T.O. showed a little too much enthusiasm for my comfort. I learned Dan had been a fraternity brother of T.O's, but I knew Dan from bar activities and otherwise and had confidence in him. As it turned out, Dan successfully mediated the impossible case - and it was his first case as a mediator! After that case, I celebrated with a week in Yellowstone the following week.

Mediation has become a large part of my practice in that I serve as a mediator quite a bit in a variety of cases. There are many lawyers who now devote a large part of their practices to mediation, such as Tom Harris in Chattanooga. I thought Tom had lost his mind when he set up shop as a full-time mediator some years back. Little did I know, as he was truly a pioneer in the field. I continue to be shocked at the success and impact that mediation has had on the practice of law.

In February I went to the National Conference of Bar Presidents in San Diego. I set up four depositions with Gary Patrick with locations from Lake Forest to La Jolla (which cannot be pronounced phonetically). It turns out that Lake Forest is virtually in Los Angeles. I left at the crack of dawn with all our money, most of our credit cards, and even the extra room key, which gave my wife, Joy, some problems.

Normally, Joy and I would have visited the San Diego Zoo, the wild animal park, and other places, but Joy could not walk any distance without being totally winded. I prayed that I would be able to get her home without her being placed in a hospital in San Diego. The Lord got us home and I got Joy to an emergency room. She had a valve replaced and one repaired within a week and for the second time the Lord answered my fervent prayers. We were working on our 40th year of marriage.

As a result of Joy's situation, I once again missed the ABA Leadership course in Chicago. Having missed the leadership course twice, I have often wondered if I could continue to lead the TBA without ABA advice!

Because Tom Scott of Knoxville and Jim Doran of Nashville were putting it on, so-to-speak, I attended an American College of Trial Lawyers function for the Sixth Circuit in Memphis in May. One function was at the Ornamental Iron Museum (there really is such a place) overlooking the Mississippi River.

On June 6 in Nashville I became the 122nd TBA president. Within a week or two, Allan Ramsaur, the executive director, had a heart attack. I do not know if these events are related, but they could be as Allan is as hard-headed as I am, although I must admit he knows more about the nooks and crannies of bar "stuff" than I do. I have found the bar staff to be top notch and we are very lucky to have such good people. They took up the slack while Allan recovered.

In August, I went to the ABA annual meeting in Chicago. The ABA meetings serve a good purpose in that bar presidents get a perspective on issues that are receiving attention around the country. Some issues are not (to me) bar issues, at least in Tennessee, but more moral or political in nature. There are others, though, that are legitimate like multi-professional issues and multi-jurisdictional issues and the old standby of the bar — public relations. I am also fascinated by the voluntary bar versus the mandatory bar and the fact that some sister states actually have two bar associations.

The Southern Conference of Bar Presidents usually meets at the ABA meetings. In addition, this year the SCBF met in New Orleans in October and it was a fine meeting. Mike Rubin is president of the Louisiana State Bar and we have become good friends from these meetings.

Under Judge Neil Thomas' leadership we now have an Inns of Court chapter in Chattanooga. Judge Thomas let me view with him a video that is shown to new jurors that is narrated by Justice William "Muecke" Barker. It is excellent and will be a useful instruction tool across the state.

During the course of this past year, I found that there are meetings that come up of which I previously was not aware. For example, I attended a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Tennessee Judicial Conference at Paris Landing. The judges' agenda was quite interesting and included reports on things like the Jury Pilot project. A number of judges told me how much they appreciated me, as president of the TBA, attending this meeting.

I attended the swearing-in of new admittees in Nashville in December and introduced those who did not have an individual sponsor. That part was enjoyable, except for the pronunciation of the names, which was a great challenge. Chief Justice Drowota told the new admittees that they could look back 40 years from that day and see what type of book they had written on their profession. When I got up to make my remarks my wheels were turning, since in March 2002 I will have been practicing 40 years - a fact I pointed out to the audience. I told them that while my book was almost finished, not to fear, I plan a sequel!

I also used the time as an opportunity to tell the young lawyers the benefits of TBA membership, which I equated as their chance to give something back to the profession. I truly believe that bar service is giving back to your profession. All the judges spoke and each of the judges voiced the benefits of bar membership, so I am not alone in my view.

In July, my father died (he was my step-father, but the only father I ever really knew). And, as we all know, there was the horror of September 11 and its continuing aftermath. I point out those two events only to let you know that 2001 was very much a test.

My wife, who has encouraged my childish ways, bought me the book Alaska Milepost, which she caught me looking at with great wanderlust in Barnes & Noble. I told her it was a mistake for her to give me that book because I do hope to reward myself for bar service with a great motorcycle trip to either (or all) of the Alps, Tombstone/Big Bend, or, the second trip of a lifetime, Alaska. I view this as a patriotic duty since the president of the United States has asked us to go forward with our lives even if only on two wheels. Hopefully, Joy will continue to be a great patriot.