Former TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson will be the first African American woman to chair the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority Board, Tennessee Tribune reports. Stevenson has served on the board since 2020 and previously held the positions of board secretary and vice chair. She also was vice chair of the board’s Diversity Committee, secretary of its Management Committee and a member of its Vision and Finance Committee. Stevenson left the TBA in late 2022. She is now the Nashville office managing shareholder for Littler Mendelson.

In honor of Black History Month, the American Bar Association is promoting several resources for lawyers. The 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge invites participants to complete a syllabus of short assignments over 21 consecutive days. Activities include readings, videos and podcasts designed to provide perspectives into Black history, identity, culture and experience of racism in America. The second resource, Black Lawyers in America Webinar Series, offers four videos, facilitation guidelines and discussion questions. Finally, the group republished its 2019 profile of 14 black lawyers who broke down barriers and made history. Check it out here.

The American Bar Association’s presidential appointments process closes this Friday. There are approximately 700 positions open across various standing committees, commissions and other entities within the ABA. Terms typically last from one to three years. Learn more about the positions available or submit an application here. Those who would like to discuss the process or are intending to seek a leadership position should contact John Tarpley at 615-259-1366 or Jonathan Cole at 615-726-7335 with the TBA’s ABA Resources Committee.

Belmont University and Fisk University have formed the Fisk-Belmont Social Justice Collaborative, a partnership between the universities designed to expose students to civil rights and social justice movements. The collaborative is funded by the Rechter Family Foundation for a five-year period. Programs offered through the partnership will include an “Ignite Retreat,” an immersive experience designed to teach students how to create change in their communities; a spring hackathon in partnership with Fisk’s John Lewis Center for Social Justice; a speaker series; tours of regional civil rights museums; and a course centered on documenting the civil rights experience in Nashville. The program will kick off with a reception tomorrow from 3-6 p.m. CST at the Nashville Public Library.

Nominations are now being accepted from law firms, companies and organizations in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee for the first-ever Southeastern Legal Awards sponsored by Law.com/Daily Report. Visit the award webpage for more information. Nominations should be submitted no later than March 3. For questions contact pwu@alm.com.

The Memphis Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society will host Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sarah K. Campbell next Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. CST for in-person lunch. The event will take place at the Hu Hotel Ballroom, 79 Madison Ave., Memphis 38103. Lunch will be served from 11:30 to noon. Campbell will present on "The Tennessee Supreme Court: Who We Are, What We Do, and How We Do It." Register online or by contacting Greg Grisham, 901-333-2076.

Gianna Maio has been selected by the advisory board of the Eastern District Federal Community Defender’s Office to succeed Elizabeth “Beth” Ford as head of the office. Maio, 47, will oversee a staff of 50, most of whom are in the Knoxville office. She will work out of the Chattanooga and Greeneville offices, Knoxnews reports. Maio has been with the federal defender’s office since graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2005. Ford, a career attorney who has run the office since 1999, retired this week. Federal district courts may select public defenders through two methods: the judges of the district may choose or the court may create a nonprofit board of defense attorneys and social work and mental health professionals to make the selection.

Memphis lawyer and former TBA President Lucian Pera joins with six other veteran legal ethics professionals from across the country to call on the American Bar Association to launch a once-in-a-generation study and renewal of the nation's attorney discipline system. They say the mechanics, structure, reach and infrastructure of lawyer regulation need revamping for the 21st century. The group outlines its recommendations in this Bloomberg Law article. Pera is a partner at Adams and Reese. He served for five years on the ABA Ethics 2000 Commission, which rewrote the Model Rules of Professional Conduct. He also led the TBA committee that successfully proposed new legal ethics for the state based on the model rules.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division recently rolled out a new benefit for its members. The "Welcome to Tennessee Basket" —  a project led by YLD President Brittany Faith — offers a range of standard forms, helpful links, suggested reading and practice guides. The resource is available to all TBA members, but be sure to be logged into your TBA account to check it out. If you have a form you would like to share please upload it here. To recommend other resources, send details to YLD Coordinator Laura Labenberg. Thanks to Hendersonville lawyer John Murphy and Chattanooga lawyer Charlotte Mattingly for their work on this project.

An effort to end the American Bar Association's longstanding requirement that law schools use the LSAT or other standardized test in admissions has failed for a second time in six years, Reuters reports. The ABA House of Delegates rejected the change to its accreditation standards last month after more than an hour of debate. The proposal to allow law schools to go "test optional" in 2025 has divided law schools and the ABA itself, with law student diversity emerging as the primary point of contention. Those supporting the change argued that the LSAT is a barrier for minority test takers because on average they score below white test takers and because law schools rely too heavily on those scores. Those opposing the change warned that eliminating the requirement would make admissions offices more dependent on subjective measures such as the prestige of an applicant’s college, which could disadvantage minority applicants.