Stay current with legal news in Tennessee. This page features the latest news for and about the Tennessee legal community, either produced by the Tennessee Bar Association or collected from news sources.
The TBA YLD Fellows held its annual meeting and inducted new members at the YLD & Fellows Dinner, held in conjunction with the TBA Convention. New officers elected were President Angelia Morie Nystrom with the University of Tennessee in Knoxville; Vice President Andrew V. Sellers with Purcell Sellers & Craig in Jackson; Secretary Charlotte Knight Griffin with Memphis Light, Gas & Water in Memphis; and Treasurer J. Russell Parkes with Hardin, Parkes, Kelley & Carter in Columbia. Cynthia Richardson Wyrick with Ogle, Gass & Richardson in Sevierville assumed the office of immediate past president.
The group also welcomed nine new members: Tara M. Aaron with Aaron Sanders Law in Nashville; Tasha C. Blakney with Eldridge, Blakney & Trant in Knoxville; Anna Banks Cash with the Office of the 26th District Attorney in Jackson; E. Evan Cope with Cope, Hudson, Reed & McCreary in Murfreesboro; L. Carter Massengill with Massengill, Caldwell & Coughlin in Bristol; Alicia Brown Oliver with Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel in Chattanooga; Candice Reed with Ceridian Corporation in Nashville; and Michael P. Sayne with Pilot Travel Centers in Knoxville. Knoxville lawyer Harry P. Ogden was named an honorary Fellow for his support and mentoring of young lawyers. He practices with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.
Above: Cindy Wyrick (left) welcomes Harry Ogden as the YLD Fellows 2012
Honorary Fellow
Finally, the Fellows awarded it annual William M. Leech Jr. Public Service Award to former Springfield lawyer and TBA president Larry Dean Wilks, who died Aug. 30, 2011. The award, presented posthumously, recognized Wilks’s service to the practice of law, the bar and the profession. The award was presented by Wyrick and accepted by Wilks' widow Jan and son John. Given annually by the TBA Young Lawyers Division Fellows, the Leech Award is named for former Attorney General William M. Leech. It honors a lawyer who has given outstanding service to the profession, legal system and the community.
Above: Jan Wilks thanks the TBA YLD Fellows for recognizing her late
husband and former TBA president Larry Wilks with the 2012 Leech Award
Law students participating in the YLD’s Diversity Leadership Institute joined lawyers across the state at the TBA Convention in Memphis earlier this month. The group’s activities included a final program that featured young lawyers discussing what they wish they had known when transitioning from law school to law practice and a “speed networking” session with the panelists. Speakers included Mary Beard with FedEx Corporation in Memphis; Robert Gatewood with Farmers Insurance in Memphis; Rachel Moses with the Legal Aid Society in Cookeville; Alexander Wharton with The Wharton Law Firm in Memphis; Paul Whitt with Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop PC in Knoxville; and Brian Winfrey with The Winfrey Firm in Nashville.
Above: Memphis lawyer Mary Beard (left) speaks to two members of the
2012 DLI class about practicing in a corporate environment.
Class members also spent an afternoon at the National Civil Rights Museum learning about the role the city of Memphis played in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. On Saturday, the group participated in a cleanup and painting project at a local Boys and Girls Club.
Above: Members of the 2012 DLI class take a break from working hard at
a Memphis Boys and Girls Club in desparate need of cleaning and repair
The program wrapped up with the class graduation, which was held as part of the annual YLD & Fellows Dinner. Those successfully completing the program were Spencer Bell, Mandy Floyd, Shalondra Grandberry, Joseph Kendrick, William O'Connor, William Terrell and Kenneth Walker from the University of Memphis School of Law; Shalini Bhatia, Ryan Donaldson, Jessica Jackson, and Amy Williams from the University of Tennessee College of Law; and Rachel Kirby and Robin Nicholson from the Nashville School of Law. Learn more about the DLI
David Veile of the Franklin firm of Schell Binkley & Davies LLC took office as TBA YLD president at the division’s annual meeting June 8 in Memphis. Immediate Past President Mason W. Wilson of Memphis was on hand to pass the gavel to Veile. At the meeting, Veile laid out his vision for the coming year. Responding to TBA President Jackie Dixon's plans to improve mentoring and ramp up public education efforts this year, Veile pledged the YLD's support for a more comprehensive TBA mentoring program and for the Law Rules project, which equips lawyers with the information they need to make presentations about the legal system to schools, civics organizations, churches and other community groups.
Veile also pledged to continue the YLD's successful service programs -- including the high school mock trial competition, Wills for Heroes clinics, iCivics training for teachers, Law Day themed-contests and Statewide Public Service Day projects -- as well as serving Tennessee law students through the Judicial Internship Program and Diversity Leadership Institute, and serving young lawyers with quality CLE, skills training and networking opportunities.
Also taking office at the meeting were President-Elect David McDowell with Gearhiser, Peters, Elliott & Cannon in Chattanooga; Vice President Stacie Winkler with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz in Memphis; Secretary Marisa Combs with Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop in Nashville; and Treasurer Steven King with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz in Memphis. Two contested elections were decided at the meeting, with Knoxville lawyer Paul Whitt retaining his seat as East Tennessee Governor and Nashville lawyer Mary Beth Haltom being reelected as Middle Tennessee Governor. Both are with Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop. Jackson lawyer Ashley Holliday with West Tennessee Legal Services was elected to fill a vacancy for West Tennessee Governor.
Memphis lawyer Gail Ostby Mathes was summarily and temporarily suspended from the practice of law June 26 for failing to respond to the Board of Professional Responsibility regarding a complaint of misconduct. Mathes is now precluded from accepting any new cases and she must stop representing existing clients by July 26. This suspension remains in effect until dissolution or modification by the Supreme Court. Download the BPR release
The high court today let stand, in a 5-4 decision, the centerpiece of President Obama's health care legislation, with Chief Justice John Roberts surprising many by casting the deciding vote and writing the majority opinion. His rationale is that Congress under the Commerce Clause does not have the authority to require people to buy insurance — but it does have the authority to tax people who do not have coverage. The so-called individual mandate embedded in the health care legislation, Roberts wrote, "must be construed as imposing a tax on those who do not have health insurance, if such a construction is reasonable." Read more from NPR and the National Law Journal. Relive the action as it unfolded, from the Blog of Legal Times or read what Tennessee business, health care and political leaders had to say in the Nashville Post.
The Tennessee Bar Association will explore what the next steps will be for the legislation in a July 12 webcast featuring John Voigt of Sherrard & Roe. Learn more or register now.
The deadline for employers hoping to take part in the 2nd Annual TBA Diversity Job Fair is Friday (June 29). This year's job fair is set for Sept. 7-8 in Nashville. Building on the success of last year's event, the 2012 job fair will provide legal employers the opportunity to interview diverse 2L and 3L law students from law schools in Tennessee and surrounding states. Thirty law schools have already signed up. All legal employers in Tennessee are invited to take part, regardless of size or sector. Participants are asked to consider candidates for summer associate positions, clerkships and attorney openings. The event is an initiative of the TBA Committee on Racial & Ethnic Diversity (CRED). For more information contact TBA staff member Lynn Pointer.
A trial date has been set early next year for former Hawkins County General Sessions Judge James Taylor after his attorney entered not guilty pleas to local theft charges. Special presiding Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood set a motion hearing for Nov. 19, with a trial tentatively set for Jan. 28, 2013. Taylor has also pleaded not guilty in Nashville to 41 counts of theft of property, The Rogersville Review reports.
In light of the Supreme Court's decision earlier this week, columnist George Will looks into what the Supreme Court has called “the evolving standards of decency." Originalism holds that the Constitution’s language should be construed to mean what the words meant at the time to those who wrote and ratified the Constitution. On Monday, the court's ruling about punishment vexed the four justices (John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito) most sympathetic to originalism, who dissented. The majority held that sentencing laws that mandate life imprisonment without possibility of parole for juvenile homicide offenders violate the Eighth Amendment. The Leaf Chronicle has the column
Knoxville attorney Bryan Capps is the new president of the Tennessee Association for Justice, succeeding Keith Williams of Lebanon. Bryan Smith of Memphis advances to president-elect. Elected vice presidents were Eric Buchanan of Chattanooga, Jon Peeler of Nashville and Thomas Greer of Memphis. WDEF.com has it
Six of the seven candidates for Hamilton County General Sessions Court judge answered questions at a Wednesday public forum co-sponsored by the Times Free Press and Chattanooga Bar Association. The seat was left vacant after Judge Bob Moon's death. Joe DeGaetano, Valerie Epstein, Yolanda Mitchell, Ron Powers, Gary Starnes and Patricia Best Vital took part in the forum. Interim Sessions Judge David Norton, who is also a candidate, did not attend due to illness. With minor variations each of the candidates said they approved of recording proceedings and would closely scrutinize requests for a court-appointed attorney. All also said they would be accessible after hours to attorneys within the court rules for discussing cases. Read the details and see a picture
The House voted this afternoon that Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. should be held in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents related to the botched "Fast and Furious" gun smuggling operation. The 255-67 vote amounted to "a political spanking" for Holder and President Obama, the Washington Times writes. Seventeen Democrats joined with Republicans in demanding the documents be released. Most Democrats, however, walked out in protest of the vote. It marks the first time an attorney general has been held in contempt by a chamber.
The head of Chattanooga's gang task force says he will remove a little-known provision on a Sessions Court form that allows police to search the homes of people assigned court-ordered community service. Boyd Patterson said the provision was never intended for minor offenses such as littering, simple drug possession or similar misdemeanors. Instead, the language is aimed at the "worst of the worst" gang members. But the provision, in effect since November, requires people who agree to perform public works days through the court to allow such searches regardless of their offense. The provision is "just such a gross overkill," attorney Hank Hill said. "No competent lawyer would ever require a client to sign it." The Times Free Press has more
In an editorial, the Commercial Appeal says the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling this week in the Arizona immigration law case "should send a message to Tennessee's legislators that they should stop trying to pass similar legislation."
More accusations are flying regarding Judge Richard Baumgartner and the torture slaying cases of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. Defense attorneys Tom Dillard and Stephen Ross Johnson are firing back at Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols' allegations of unethical conduct by Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood with accusations of their own: that Nichols and his staff hid information about then-presiding Judge Baumgartner's misdeeds while Baumgartner was still on the bench handling the case. The News Sentinel reports
Volunteers are needed for the 2nd annual Boys and Girls Law Camp in Nashville. Sponsored by the Napier-Looby Bar Association’s Student Outreach Committee, the camp will be held July 26-28 at Hartman Park Community Center. It will feature courthouse and law firm visits, oral advocacy workshops, and will culminate in an oral advocacy competition. For more information, contact Dannelle Walker or Hamilton Patrick.
The Supreme Court largely lets stand President Obama’s health care overhaul, in a mixed ruling that Court observers are rushing to analyze. Follow the coverage in The New York Times.
Potentially lost in the flurry of news coverage about the Supreme Court's upcoming health care decision was the court's action on Monday granting certiorarii in 11 cases. Among those to be considered during the next term is one that could make it more difficult for plaintiffs to bring class actions in federal courts, according to the ABA Journal. "The issue here," according to one observer, "is whether the plaintiffs have to show at the class-certification stage that they have a method of proving damages that is admissible at trial and common for all plaintiffs." Antitrust lawyer Ankur Kapoor says this could “be the big one” and "whatever the [court] says about this, the legal journals will be writing about it for years." SCOTUSBlog has the list of all petitions granted.
President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign has recruited a legion of lawyers to be on standby for this year’s election as legal disputes surrounding the voting process are expected.Thousands of attorneys and support staffers have agreed to aid in the effort, providing a mass of legal support that appears to be unrivaled. Obama’s campaign says it is particularly concerned about the implementation of new voter ID laws, the possibility of anti-fraud activists challenging legitimate voters and the handling of voter registrations in the most competitive states. The Columbia Daily Herald has this AP report
White House officials and House Republicans met yesterday but failed to resolve a document dispute that could lead to a precedent-setting contempt of Congress vote Thursday against Attorney General Eric Holder. A congressional official said the White House and Justice Department shared 30 documents related to the botched Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation and promised to provide hundreds of pages of documents if Republicans agreed to drop the contempt effort and end their investigation. That offer was rejected. The Bristol Herald Courier has this AP story.
