Eads attorney Charlotte Knight Griffin will serve as president of the Tennessee Bar Association in 2026-2027. No other candidate filed for the vice president position by the Feb. 15 deadline. After taking office as vice president at this summer’s TBA Convention, Griffin will become president-elect in 2024-2025 and then take over the organization’s leadership in June 2026. Knight Griffin began her career in private practice in Memphis after earning her law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1976. In 1978, she joined Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division as a staff attorney. She was named the manager of legal services in 2000. She retired in April 2023 after 45 years of service. Knight Griffin has been active in the TBA for many years, currently serving as speaker of the House of Delegates and member of the Board of Governors. She is a past chair of the Local Government Practice and Litigation sections, charter fellow of the Young Lawyers Division and a past executive officer of the YLD. Read more about her background.

In addition to Knight Griffin’s election as vice president, several other key positions for the 2024-2025 bar year were certified today via uncontested election results. These include TBA Board of Governors members as well as Tennessee representatives to the ABA House of Delegates. Two vacancies will be filled by the Board of Governors. No contested elections will be held in 2024. See all election results here.

A number of potential candidates are expressing interest in running for the U.S. District 7 seat being vacated by Mark Green. Former state representative Brandon Ogles, a Republican from Williamson County, has announced his bid for the position, the Nashville Post reports. Ogles, a cousin of U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, who represents District 5, served in the state House from 2018 to 2022. In addition, Clarksville Republican and state Sen. Bill Powers has confirmed he is interested in the seat, Tennessee Lookout reports. On the Democratic side, former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry had already announced she was running for the Democratic nomination for the district.

State Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, is seeking a legal opinion from Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti as to whether state Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds meets the statutory requirements to hold the job. The Tennessee Journal reports that Hemmer wrote to Skrmetti saying that Reynolds does not possess a teacher license, which he argues is required by law. Gov. Bill Lee’s office says a teaching degree is not “explicitly required” by the statute. Lee previously told reporters that a “full vetting process” occurred at the time Reynolds was hired and determined she met the qualifications.

The Tennessee Supreme Court last week dismissed a reinstatement petition filed by Shelby County lawyer Teshaun David Moore because the petition was not properly filed. The court noted that attorneys seeking reinstatement from a suspension in excess of one year must file their petitions with the Board of Professional Responsibility, not the court. The justices also point out that reinstatement petitions must be accompanied by a $2,000 advance cost deposit. Moore was suspended for six years on Dec. 11, 2020, with four years to be served on active suspension and the rest on probation subject to conditions.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated the law license of Hamilton County lawyer Jessica Mines Dumitru to active status on Feb. 16, but made the change effective as of Feb. 5. Dumitru was placed on inactive status more than five ago on Nov. 3, 2015.

A Cordova man is accused of pretending to be an attorney and stealing nearly $40,000 from multiple clients, WREG reports. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Memphis Police Department are investigating three cases involving Glenis “Chip” Campbell over the last three years. One couple police are talking to paid Campbell $28,000 over two years to have him handle a workers’ comp case. They became suspicious when Campbell refused to provide any receipts or paperwork. They called the TBA and learned he is not a licensed attorney. Another man paid Campbell $3,240 to represent him in a Mississippi criminal case in, but after the payment, Campbell disappeared. In 2008, Campbell was found guilty of impersonating a lawyer and sentenced to 150 days in the Shelby County Correctional Facility.

Attorney volunteers are needed for an Essential Documents for Essential Workers clinic at Belmont University’s Ministry Center on Feb. 24 from noon to 3:30 p.m. CST. At the clinic, attorney and law student volunteers will draft simple wills and powers of attorney for low income clients. Forms will be provided and no prior estate planning experience needed. To sign up to volunteer and for more information, please email Ginny Blake.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has reversed the decision of a Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility hearing panel, which has recommended suspending the law license of Nashville attorney Brian Manookian. The court instead permanently disbarred Manookian. The court held that, after Manookian’s continuing, serious violations of multiple Rules of Professional Conduct, even after receiving several sanctions and suspensions, disbarment was the only appropriate action. Read the BPR press release on the disbarment.

Michael Regier, general counsel and secretary at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), will retire at the end of the academic year, and Douglas Mefford, managing counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs, will succeed him effective July 1, according to a press release from VUMC. Mefford joined VUMC in 2013 and has led initiatives to restructure the LifeFlight air ambulance program and Vanderbilt Imaging Services. He has also supported the Medical Center’s regional hospital acquisitions in Lebanon, Shelbyville and Tullahoma, and helped negotiate VUMC’s minority interest in Tennova Healthcare – Clarksville.

Memphis Area Legal Services Inc. (MALS) has announced that Loyce Lambert Ryan has joined the organization as interim executive director following the departure of Cindy Ettingoff. Lambert Ryan served as judge for the Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court Division XV from 2000 to 2022. She was appointed in 2004 by then-Gov. Phil Bredesen to the Governor’s Task Force on Sentencing Guidelines, and in 2015 by the Tennessee Supreme Court to serve on the Indigent Defense Task Force. Additionally, MALS has appointed Gortria C. Banks as chief operating officer. She joined MALS in August 2023 after serving as associate executive director of the Community Legal Center. Read more in a press release from the organization.