TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Mar 3, 2026

Shelby County attorney Handel R. Durham Jr. received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court on March 3. The court found that Durham mistakenly believed that an existing client had retained both him and another attorney for a separate matter and that the representation would be under the same arrangement as the existing representation. There was no written fee agreement executed for the new matter. The attorneys then improperly attempted to collect a contingency fee of approximately 33.3% from the client. These actions were found to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.5(c), 7.1 and 8.4(a).