The Tennessee Bar Association will open its doors to members interested in touring its new office space on Sept. 15, from 2-5 p.m. CDT. The office is located at 3310 West End Ave., Ste. 590 in Nashville. Visitor parking is available. Please register here so we know how many guests to expect.

The Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation presented the 2022 Sue Ann Head Award for Excellence in Workers' Compensation to Bob Pitts Sr. at a luncheon last week. Pitts is a policy advisor with the Associated Builders and Contractors of Great Tennessee. Two finalists also were recognized for their influence on workers' compensation: Sarah Reisner, principal with Manier Herod, and Dan Headrick with Star Physical Therapy. The award is named in honor and memory of Sue Ann Head, who led the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Division for over 30 years. She died in 2018. See the announcement and photos from this year’s event.

Tennessee’s full abortion ban will go into effect tomorrow, following the 30-day waiting period under the state’s trigger law. Uncertainties remain in a post-Roe world, WSMV reports, with some physicians questioning their rights under the new law. Immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling returning abortion authority to the states, Tennessee’s six-week abortion ban went into effect. That ban will be superseded tomorrow by the Human Life Protection Act. Memphis defense attorney Blake Ballin with Ballin, Ballin & Fishman has been advising doctors. He says the law does not provide an exception for any kind of situation, whether it be for rape, incest or child abuse. The provision related to a mother’s life is an affirmative defense to criminal charges. He is telling doctors if they perform an abortion they could be charged with a felony. It would then be their responsibility to prove the life of the mother was in jeopardy.

Friends and colleagues gathered at a retirement reception for Circuit Court Judge Donald E. Parish last week. Matt Maddox, president of the Carroll County Bar Association, served as the master of ceremonies and introduced Parish’s former law partner Michael King, Court of Criminal Appeals Judge John Everett Williams and Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger A. Page, the McKenzie Banner reports. Local attorney Steve West unveiled a portrait of Parish that will be displayed in the Carroll County Courthouse. Parish, who announced his retirement last year, served on the bench for 16 years, worked in private practice for 25 years and has been active in the Carroll County Bar Association. The 24th Judicial District Circuit Court serves Henry, Carroll, Benton, Decatur and Hardin counties.

An annual report on hate crimes in Tennessee found a slight uptick in offenses that law enforcement tied to a known bias, Axios Nashville reports. The data, based on a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation report released this week, showed 133 crimes in 2021 were attributed to a bias compared to 122 in 2020. Racial bias accounted for 58% of the incidents statewide while biases related to sexuality or gender were found in 23% of cases.

The American Bar Association is collaborating with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) to once again mobilize lawyers to assist as poll workers in the upcoming November election. The Poll Worker Esq. Initiative encourages lawyers, law students and other legal professionals to assist in upcoming elections. The initiative kicked off today with the release of a video that details how to sign up to be a poll worker and a landing page where lawyers can sign up to volunteer. There will also be a social media campaign, which will run through the fall.

U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix this week agreed with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' guidance on emergency abortions was unauthorized and went beyond the text of a related federal law. The government had relied on a 1986 federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which seeks to ensure hospitals provide emergency medical care for the poor and uninsured, to impose the new guidelines. Reuters reports that Hendrix did not pursue a nationwide injunction, instead blocking HHS from enforcing the policy in Texas and against two specific groups of doctors. The administration’s policy would have required hospitals to provide emergency abortions to women regardless of state bans on the procedure.

The TBA’s Women in the Profession Committee is planning its first in-person event for Nov. 10. The committee is creating a day-long program to offer over five hours of CLE credit and provide networking opportunities. The event will take place at the Nashville office of Baker Donelson, 1600 West End Ave., Nashville 37203. Register now to reserve your spot!

The law can be a very dangerous thing, University of Missouri School of Law Professor John Lande writes on Meditate.com. Although the legal system is inevitably imperfect, it does provide important benefits such as helping people solve difficult problems, making institutions function properly, and promoting justice, he says. These achievements, however, can be accompanied by vicarious trauma — feelings of trauma that affect those who engage empathetically with survivors of traumatic incidents. Lande cites an ABA Journal article that explores areas of practice where clients, and thus their lawyers, often deal with traumatic incidents. These realities need to be discussed starting in law school, and seeking help in these cases should be normalized, he says. “Lawyers are not immune from mental health issues, and struggling with vicarious trauma isn’t a personal failing. It’s simply a sign that you’re human.”

Check out these pro bono opportunities organized by the TBA Young Lawyers Division or one of our local affiliate young lawyer groups. The YLD is also partnering this year with Welcome South to promote immigration-related pro bono opportunities. Come be part of the Pro Bono Posse!

Welcome South Opportunities
Welcome South is a coalition of nonprofit legal service providers working across Tennessee to provide representation to individuals with immigration issues. The groups utilize an online platform for referrals, communication and support for pro bono counsel. Learn more about volunteering here. Despite some of the far deadlines, the pro bono attorney would be expected to start work on these cases soon. More details will be given on acceptance of the case. To volunteer, email Alix Rogers or Savannah Quintero. Current opportunities include:

1. Minor in Maryville needs a predicate order for SIJS. Child lives with her father and has no memories of her mother. Deadline: 2025 (minor's 18th birthday)
2. Minor needs an SIJS predicate order in Sevier County. Minor has not seen or heard from her mother since she was five years old. She has no memories of her mother and lives with her dad. Deadline: 2026 (minor's 18th birthday)
3. Minor in Chattanooga has a predicate order and an approved I-360 (SIJS application); however, the guardian died and grandmother needs to be appointed as successor guardian. Deadline: 2028 (minor's 18th birthday)
4. Seeking an attorney to handle only the guardianship/SIJS predicate order portion of a case involving a 13-year-old in Bradley County. The guardian is the maternal aunt. The grounds for the petition are neglect and abandonment by the father, who moved out of the family home when minor was 11 years old. The father drank excessively, did not support the child or her mother before or after moving out. He has since passed away. The aunt and client do not want the mother to be named as one of the abandoning parents. The client is in middle school. Deadline: Minor's 18th birthday
5. Urgent asylum/withholding of removal case for a minor and his mother. Both have individual hearings scheduled in Memphis for Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. CDT remotely via WebEx. This is a legacy 2017 case.

Debt Relief Clinic — Sept. 10
9 a.m. to Noon EDT
The Knoxville Bar Association and its Bankruptcy Section, in partnership with Legal Aid of East Tennessee and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Suzanne H. Bauknight, will hold a Pro Bono Debt Relief Clinic on Sept. 10. The event will take place at the Knox County Public Defender's Community Law Office, 1101 Liberty St., Knoxville. Judge Bauknight will present a short overview of the bankruptcy system and other solutions for clients before volunteer lawyers meet with them to discuss their options. Sign up here to volunteer.