Albert C. Harvey, senior shareholder at the Memphis offices of Lewis Thomason, was honored by the Memphis Business Journal with the Best of the Bar Lifetime Achievement Award for 2017. Harvey is a recently retired major general with the Marine Corps Reserve and a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law. The former Tennessee Bar Association president was honored at a ceremony on March 7 at Opera Memphis.

Former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Edward L. Stanton III has joined the Butler Snow Memphis office. Stanton will practice with the firm’s white collar, compliance and government investigations team and its commercial litigation practice group. Stanton just stepped down from his federal law enforcement position earlier this year. He was nominated by former President Barack Obama to a federal judgeship in 2015, but was not confirmed before President Donald Trump was elected in November.

Knoxville firm Winchester, Sellers, Foster and Steele added Joshua R. Holden as a shareholder of the firm. He joins J. Michael Winchester, E. Brian Sellers, Gordon D. Foster, Walter N. Winchester and Anthony R. Steele as shareholders. Previously an associate with the firm, Holden earned his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2000 and his LLM in taxation from Southern Methodist University in 2001. His practice is focused primarily on commercial, banking and bankruptcy/creditor’s rights law.

The Chattanooga law firm of Evans Harrison Hackett PLLC has added Everett (“Bo”) L. Hixson Jr. as a member, and Everett (“Rett”) L. Hixson III as an associate. Bo Hixson has been practicing in the Chattanooga and North Georgia area for more than 30 years, and his practice involves commercial, personal injury and real estate litigation, including construction disputes, foreclosures, landlord/tenant, Americans with Disabilities Act claims, homeowner associations issues, business dissolutions, creditor’s rights and bankruptcy, insurance coverage, and appellate representation. Rett Hixson is a 2014 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Law and is a civil litigator with an active commercial practice in state and federal court.  

Several Tennessee attorneys were included in the 2017 inductees to the American Bar Foundation Fellows. They include Dwight Aarons of Knoxville, Travis Grainger Lloyd of Nashville, Ashley M. Lowe of Knoxville, Brian Neal of Nashville, and Lea Carol Owen of Nashville. The Fellows is an honorary organization that recognizes attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars who have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of their communities and to the highest principles of the legal profession. Membership in the Fellows is limited to 1 percent of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction.

TBA Young Lawyers Division President Rachel Ralston Mancl has been named partner with the firm Hunter, Smith and Davis. Mancl’s practice concentration includes estate planning and administration, corporate and estate litigation, transactional law, bankruptcy, foreclosure and creditors’ rights. Mancl has been a featured speaker at numerous seminars. She is vice president of the Kingsport Bar Association, a member of the board of directors for the Tennessee Lawyer’s Association for Women, and a member of the board of directors for Neighborhood Reconciliation Services.

Former Bradley partners Brett Carter and Brian Shelton have formed the boutique tax law firm Carter Shelton PLC. The firm will focus on representing business and individual clients in all tax matters, as well as estate and succession planning. Shelton has more than 10 years of experience providing estate and succession planning. Carter was also previously a partner in the Waller Lansden Dortch and Davis Tennessee tax group.

Kurt Winstead, a founding member of the Nashville law firm Rudy Winstead Turner PLLC, has been promoted to brigadier general in the Tennessee National Guard. The ceremony was held on March 4 at the Hall of Flags in Nashville with Major General Terry M. "Max" Haston, Tennessee's Adjutant General, presiding. Family, friends and soldiers attended to recognize Winstead’s service to state and country.

The Tipton County Bar Association recently honored retired Supreme Court Justice Lyle Reid’s 60 years in law practice, with a reception in Covington. Reid is a TBA Senior Counselor. He graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1956 and was first licensed in 1957.

The law firm of Woolf, McClane, Bright, Allen and Carpenter PLLC has elected a new executive committee: Hugh B. Bright Jr., Gregory C. Logue, Tony R. Dalton, J. Chadwick Hatmaker and Richard S. Matlock. Matlock was also named chief manager of the firm. He replaces Dennis R. McClane, who is focusing solely on the practice of law after serving as the firm’s chief manager for 23 years.

Frank W. Hunger has joined Bradley’s Nashville office as counsel in the litigation practice group. Hunger has many years’ experience litigating civil cases both in private practice and with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served as assistant attorney general over the Civil Division. Prior to joining Bradley, Hunger was in private practice at law firms in Mississippi, Nashville and Washington, D.C., focusing primarily on product liability, mass tort litigation, class actions and investigations. He has served as local and regional counsel for numerous Fortune 500 companies and governmental agencies.

Butler Snow has added Steve Groom to the firm's Nashville office. Prior to the move, he was chief legal officer of CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America) and was a longtime executive. He will serve in a dual capacity as a principal in the firm's business advisory subsidiary, Butler Snow Advisory Services, and practice in the law firm in an of counsel role.

MTR Family Law recently added new attorney Sadie Ramsey Davis, who previously was a paralegal at the firm prior to earning her law degree at Nashville School of Law. “It is not often that we are able to welcome a familiar face as a new attorney,” said Marlene Eskind Moses, founding manager of MTR Family Law. “Sadie has been with our firm for six years, and we are overjoyed to keep her as part of our team.”

Angela Cirina Kopet, managing attorney of Carlock, Copeland and Stair’s Tennessee office, was selected as the winner for the 2017 Claims and Litigation Management (CLM) Professional of the Year Award in the Outside Counsel category. CLM is the largest insurance industry organization with more than 35,000 professionals nationwide in the claims resolution and litigation management industries.  On March 29, Kopet accepted the award on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

Baker Donelson has named Christy Tosh Crider chair of the firm’s Health Care Litigation Group. Crider is a shareholder located in Baker Donelson’s Nashville office where she will continue to serve as chair of the firm's Long-Term Care Group as well as the Firm’s Women’s Initiative. She manages a practice concentrated in the long-term care and behavioral health industries, managing the litigation of numerous long-term care facilities around the country as well as serving as outside general counsel.

Buckner Wellford, a shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Memphis office, has been named chair of the firm's Advocacy Department. This role was previously held by Gregory Fletcher, who will return to full-time practice after his more than 15 years of leadership. Wellford, who previously served as chair of the firm’s Health Care Litigation Group, manages a practice focused on the representation of hospitals, physicians and medical groups in health care litigation, regulatory, peer review, contract and employment matters.

Memphis attorney Buck Lewis of Baker Donelson has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. A former TBA President, Lewis is a shareholder and chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Litigation Group. He is one of just three Tennessee attorneys who have been inducted as a fellow of the AAAL.

 

Compiled by Linda Murphy and Katharine Heriges. Tennessee Bar Association members may send information about job changes, awards and work-related news. Send it to SUCCESS! c/o The Journal at 221 Fourth Ave. N., Suite 400, Nashville, TN 37219-2198, or email to lmurphy@tnbar.org.

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