| Tennessee Bar Association

May, 2009

Cover Story

You're Fired

Before your clients say these words, make sure they know the WARN Act

It is early 2009 and the United States remains mired in a recession. In an effort to cut costs, businesses are reducing staffing through buyouts, retirements, and layoffs (reductions in force, or RIFs). Such efforts have resulted in a surge in job losses: In December 2008 the...

Feature Story

Justice 4 All: Statewide Pro Bono Public Service Day

One Day in April There Was

On Saturday, April 4, the lawyers who showed up for work in Tennessee were not adversaries, but were all on the same side. As part of the Statewide Pro Bono Public Service Day initiated by the Tennessee Bar Association and led by its president, Buck Lewis, 863 lawyers and support staff volunteered their...

Feature Story

Research Right Using Books and Bytes

Research is a fundamental part of legal practice.[1] The percentage of lawyers using print resources for research is decreasing.[2] The internet transformed legal research. Tennessee courts recognize the internet as a "primary tool for legal research."[3] Electronic sources are updated faster than print and some information is available exclusively...

Feature Story

The Trial of Rush Strong

Gunfight on Locust Street in Knoxville 1916:

At 10:25 p.m. on Monday, July 3, 1916, shots were fired on the block of Locust Street between Cumberland Avenue and Main Avenue in Knoxville. The shooters were Gideon Rush Strong and Samuel Bell Luttrell Jr. Why? Because Rush's wife Bonnie Hurt Strong told her husband that Sam had raped her twice,...

President's Perspective

Redefining Success

Studs Terkel, author of the classic history of the Great Depression Hard Times, passed away Oct. 31, 2008. Studs never saw most of this recession we are in now. His account of the Great Depression illustrates the stark differences and haunting similarities between 1934 and 2009.

In one interview, a San Francisco waterfront laborer told...

People

The Tennessee Bar Foundation inducted its 2008 class of Fellows in January at a dinner in Nashville. New fellow are:
Paul A. Bates, Lawrenceburg
Mark S. Beveridge, Nashville
Judge Joe P. Binkley Jr., Nashville
Judge Jeffrey S. Bivins, Franklin
Andrew C....

But Seriously, Folks

Twelve Angry Tweeters

When I first heard my fellow lawyers using the word "twitter," I thought they were referring to the little birdie who co-starred on the Bugs Bunny Show ("I taught I taw a putty tat!") or a famous country music singer ("Hello, darling! Nice to see you! It's been a long time!") Recently, a young female attorney asked me whether I "twitter," and I was...

Book Review

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

By Jon Meacham | Random House | $30 | 512 pages | 2008

Day on Torts

Recreation Limits Litigation

Everyone knows that Tennessee has rejected the historic invitee, licensee, and trespasser method of determining duty in premises liability cases.[1] Today, we know that when determining the duty that possessors of land owe to a particular plaintiff the court "balances the foreseeability and gravity of the potential harm against the feasibility and...

News

Memphis Team Wins State Mock Trial Competition

TBA Young Lawyers Division

White Station High School's Green Team claimed the state mock trial title in March, defeating Battle Ground Academy of Franklin in the 29th annual Tennessee State High School Mock Trial Competition. The team, which is coached by Memphis attorneys Eugene "Buddy" and Michelle Bernstein, will represent...

Disciplinary Actions

Reinstated

The following attorneys have been reinstated to the practice of law after complying with Supreme Court Rule 21, which requires mandatory continuing legal education:
Matthew Edward Davis, Gilbert, S.C.
Nicole Pyne, Salt Lake City, Utah
Darren E. Ridenour, Knoxville

...

Paine on Procedure

How Rules of Procedure Are Made

Occasionally a lawyer or judge fusses at me about the work product of the Advisory Commission to the Supreme Court on Rules of Practice and Procedure. I tell these fussbudgets that I am merely Reporter to the Commission and am not allowed to vote. Then I explain the procedure, which may be of interest to you readers.

We meet four times annually by...