Former TBA Board Member, Young Lawyer President Dies - Articles

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Former TBA Board Member, Young Lawyer President Dies

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jan 16, 2026

James Theodore "Jim" Bland Jr. died Nov. 27 in Florida at the age of 75. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in accountancy in 1972 from the University of Memphis and a law degree from the university’s Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 1974. Bland began his career working at the Internal Revenue Service as an estate and gift tax attorney before joining the law firm of Armstrong, Allen, Prewitt, Gentry, Johnston and Holmes. He later opened his own private practice. Bland was active in the Tennessee legal community serving as president of the Federal Bar Association's Memphis chapter from 1979-1980, as a charter fellow and president of the Memphis Bar Foundation, as president of the TBA Young Lawyers Conference (the precursor organization to the Young Lawyers Division) from 1984-1985, and on the TBA Board of Governors from 1990-1991. On the national level, he served as the youngest president of the Federal Bar Association from 1987-1988. After retiring, Bland moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands but returned to Memphis in 2015 and finally settled in Florida in 2017. Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or Wesleyan Hills United Methodist Church in Memphis.