NEWS FROM THE TBA

Open House

Members from across the state made their way to the Tennessee Bar Association on Sept. 15 to tour the TBA’s new office space and talk with staff and fellow members. The TBA moved to the new office, located at 3310 West End Ave., Ste. 590 in Nashville, earlier this summer after 20 years at its downtown location.

TBA member Kevin Balkwill, TBA Assistant Director Barry Kolar and Tennessee Bar Foundation Executive Director Barri Bernstein at the TBA Open House

Award-Winning Podcast

The TBA’s BarBuzz podcast and its Executive Producer Kate Prince received the top media award from the NABE national legal communications group at their annual meeting in September. Now in its third year, the monthly podcast is an anchor for the TBA’s Podcast Network, which includes four other shows. Each episode features a quick and entertaining rundown of Tennessee legal news, bar association events and announcements and shoutouts to members who deserve a #humblebrag. To date it has recorded more than 7,000 downloads. Prince, who is the TBA’s digital media & leadership development coordinator, also co-hosts the program, which features a different member each month as co-host.

Kate Prince

Staff Addition

Laura J. Labenberg, Ed.D. has joined the TBA staff as the Young Lawyers Division & Law Student Development Coordinator. In her new role, Labenberg will work with the YLD to plan programs, meetings and special projects like pro bono clinics, the annual Tennessee High School Mock Trial Competition and the award-winning Diversity Leadership Institute. Prior to joining the TBA, Labenberg served as a professor of rhetoric at Hofstra University and the executive director of an educational nonprofit in New York. Earlier in her career in higher education, she served as a grants coordinator and conference coordinator. Labenberg earned her doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at Hofstra University.

Saying Goodbye

TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson is returning to private practice as the managing shareholder of Littler Mendhelson’s Nashville office. TBA President Tasha C. Blakney says, “I know I speak for the Board of Governors, the staff and the entire TBA membership when I say that Joycelyn has been the very director we needed at the time we needed her most. During her five-year tenure, she ushered us through dynamic and unprecedented times — from the reinvigoration of staff and member engagement, to the navigation of a global pandemic, to the sale of our building, and so much more.” See SPARK! for a look back over Joycelyn’s time with the TBA!

Public Service Academy

The 2022 class of the TBA Public Service Academy convened for its first session in mid-September. The academy is a nonpartisan training fellowship that provides attorneys with the tools to run for local public offices, such as school board, city council and county commission. The theme of the first session of the program was “Preparing to Run,” and speakers discussed the importance of choosing service, how to assess fundraising power, balancing the practice of law and public service, and complying with Tennessee campaign finance laws. They also shared what they learned while running for office.

2022 Public Service Academy Class

The 2022 class includes Raven Austin, Chattanooga; Amanda Bradley, Franklin; Duncan Bryant, Memphis; Brian Bush, Chattanooga; Jing Geng, Nashville; Timothy Martin, Pickwick Dam; David O’Neil, Brentwood; Jessica Schultz, Nashville; Ryan Strain, Memphis; Angela Washington, Columbia.

Book Club Launched Sept. 19

Members of the TBA Book Club met virtually on Sept. 19 to hear from Law Professor Derrick Beetso, director of Indian gaming and tribal self-governance programs at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Beetso, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, previously served as the general counsel for the National Congress of American Indians and as an attorney-advisor for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He shared his insights about David Grann’s book Killers of the Flower Moon, which chronicles a string of murders that plagued the Osage Indian nation of Oklahoma in the 1920s, shortly after oil was discovered on their land. The murders became one of the FBI’s first major homicide investigations. The next book club selection is Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult and the discussion will be held in December.

YLD Regional Summit

Young lawyers from across the southeast gathered in Orlando in late September for the first Southeastern States Young Lawyers Regional Summit. Tennessee was one of three host states of the event. Programming included a panel on young lawyers seeking judgeships, which included Tennessee’s youngest and newly elected Eighth Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Zack Walden; a session on diversity, featuring TBA Young Lawyers Division President-elect Quinton Thompson of Memphis; a discussion of trust accounting with Jackson lawyer Kortney Simmons; and a session on managing non-attorney staff with Chattanooga attorney Claire Tuley. TBA YLD President Brittany Faith and fellow Chattanooga attorney Matt Brock also facilitated a breakout session on how to build a brand. In conjunction with the summit, the YLD Board also held its fall meeting.

YLD Board

TBALL Graduation

TBA’s Leadership Law program (TBALL) aims to serve the legal profession by equipping participants with the vision, knowledge and skills necessary to serve as leaders in the profession and in the community as a whole. Thirty-four lawyers from across the state participated in this year’s class which culminated in a final session and graduation in Franklin on Aug. 26. Attendees heard from a “Diversity in Leadership” panel before completing a service project with Tennessee Free Legal Answers, answering legal questions submitted by the public. Courtney Leyes was presented with the Larry Dean Wilks Leadership Award during the group’s graduation ceremony. The award is named for former TBA President Larry D. Wilks and recognizes a TBALL class member who exhibits exceptional leadership qualities.

Courtney Leyes

New Online Discussion Forum

TBA has launched TBA Talk, an online forum that allows members to post a question, request a referral, share knowledge, ask procedural questions and more. Visit www.tba.org/TBATalk to learn more and sign up.

ABA NEWS

Survey Says . . . ?

A new national survey sponsored by the American Bar Association shows most lawyers want the option to work from home, including the opportunity to attend many court hearings, meetings, conferences and legal training sessions remotely. The survey focuses on hybrid and remote work; mobility of lawyers; stress and burnout; diversity, equity and inclusion; use of technology; and the types of bar association resources lawyers want.

Findings from the survey “Where Does the Legal Profession Go from Here?” also show remote options are especially important to young lawyers, 44% of whom said they would leave their jobs for a greater ability to work remotely. Also, a majority of lawyers said they preferred that bench trials, pretrial hearings, depositions and court-ordered mediations take place remotely. Read the results of the survey at https://bit.ly/3SGLk7S. |||