District mock trial winners head to state
During January and February, high schools across the state participated in local mock trial competitions, all with the goal of advancing to the state competition in Nashville on March 14-15. These local competitions were made possible by the judges, lawyers and law students who volunteered their time to coach, score and judge. Thanks to all who volunteered, and congratulations to the following high schools, which will represent their districts in the state competition:

District 1: University School of Memphis (first place); St. Mary's Episcopal School, B Team
District 2: Dyersburg High School
District 3: Competition will be held March 1
District 4: Brentwood High School
District 5: Montgomery Bell Academy, Red Team (first place); Hume-Fogg Academic High School, White Team
District 6: Springfield High School (first place); Clarksville High School
District 7: Family Christian Academy, Red Team (first place); Family Christian Academy, Blue Team
District 8: Warren County High School
District 9: Jefferson County High School
District 10: West High School, A Team
Districts 11 & 12: South Greene High School (first place); Dobyns-Bennett High School

Transactional CLE to focus on M&A
This year's Transactional Practice CLE, produced by the YLD, will focus on working the mergers and acquisitions process. During the first of three hours, faculty will provide an overview of mergers and acquisitions work, as well as a discussion of the substantive requirements of each. During the second hour, a panel of attorneys will discuss a range of tax, real estate, intellectual property and bankruptcy issues that affect an M&A practice. Panelists also will discuss current events, such as the slowing economy, which impact M&A transactions. The final hour of the program will feature a writing workshop to review the documents most frequently used by transactional lawyers. This session will equip participants to draft corporate governance documents, partnership agreements, shareholder agreements, stock option plans and non-disclosure agreements. Details are as follows:

Credit: 3 General Hours
Date: Friday, April 25

Producer: Candice Reed
Time: 8:30 a.m. registration; 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. program
Location: Nashville; Tennessee Bar Center, 221 Fourth Avenue North
To Register: Call (800) 899-6993 or visit TennBarU

YLD elections get underway
Young lawyers interested in running for YLD office must file a nominating petition by April 1 with YLD Secretary Effie Bean. Petitions can be emailed to effie.bean@butlersnow.com or faxed to (901) 680-7201. Candidates unopposed for a position are deemed elected on April 1. Contested elections will be decided by secret ballot at the division's annual meeting in June in Gatlinburg. Candidates must be under age 36 or within five years of practice at the time they would assume office. The following positions are available:

YLD Vice President (1-year term)
Position automatically ascends to the office of president-elect after one year and then to the office of president in the third year. For 2008, the vice president must be from the Eastern Grand Division.

East Tennessee Governor (1-year term)
Candidates must maintain residency in the Eastern Grand Division.

Middle Tennessee Governor (1-year term)
Candidates must maintain residency in the Middle Grand Division.

West Tennessee Governor (1-year term)
Candidates must maintain residency in the Western Grand Division.

Secretary (1-year term)

Treasurer (1-year term)

District Representatives from Even-Numbered Districts (2-year terms)
Candidates must reside or maintain a principal office in the district they seek to represent.
District 2: Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Cocke, Fentress, Grainger, Jefferson, Scott, Sevier, Union counties
District 4: Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Loudon, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Polk, Rhea, Roane counties
District 6: Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Jackson, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Van Buren, Warren, White counties
District 8: Macon, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, Wilson counties
District 10: Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Robertson, Stewart counties
District 12: Benton, Carroll, Crockett, Dyer, Gibson, Henry, Lake, Obion, Weakley counties
District 14: Shelby County

Chattanooga lawyer elected vice president
Chattanooga attorney Sam Elliott was elected vice president of the Tennessee Bar Association this month in an uncontested election. That puts him on track to lead the organization in the 2010-2011 bar year. Elliott is a lawyer with Gearhiser, Peters, Lockaby, Cavett & Elliott. He currently serves as the third district representative to the TBA Board of Governors and leads its Operations Committee. His election will become official following certification by the Board of Governors. A number of other candidates were elected in unopposed races as well. Read about them here.

Earn CLE, peer recognition
The YLD is soliciting two additional online text-based CLEs from young lawyers who wish to earn CLE credit and gain statewide recognition for their work. Sound intimidating? It doesn't have to be. A step-by-step guide to creating an online CLE is available for download. Presented in PowerPoint format, the guide covers topics such as choosing a subject, preparing an outline, gathering supporting material and drafting hypotheticals. This is a great opportunity to earn CLE credit, have your work published, impress your partner and add to your resume. For more information or to sign on the dotted line, please contact Kimberly Pride, the YLD's online CLE coordinator, at kpride@ritlaw.com.

Save the date for TBA convention
It's not too early to mark your calendar for the 2008 TBA Annual Convention in Gatlinburg, June 11-14. Make plans now to experience everything the convention has to offer from fellowship with members of the bench and bar to top-of-the line CLE programming and this year's YLD service project Wills for Heroes. We encourage all young lawyers to join us this year and make Annual Convention an event to remember.

Check it out here

Copyright 2008 Tennessee Bar Association