The Nashville Bar Association, in partnership with the Belmont University College of Law, will host “Diversity 2022 // The Time is Now: Transforming Ideas into Action” on Sept. 9 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CDT. The TBA Young Lawyers Division is a proud sponsor of this event, which will focus on the importance of moving beyond conceptual ideas in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and into creating actionable plans to address disparities facing the legal profession and our society. Get more details at the link above.

At its 97th Annual Convention in Memphis, the National Bar Association (NBA) recognized five TBA members in its 2022 class of 40 Under 40 Nation’s Best Advocates: Miska L. Shaw, Lillian M. Blackshear, LaQuita R. Stokes, Quinton E. Thompson (TBA YLD president-elect) and Jennifer L. Sneed (TBA YLD West Tennessee governor). The convention was hosted by the Ben F. Jones Memphis Chapter of the NBA, which also received the NBA’s Outstanding Affiliate award. Additionally, Blackshear also received the 40 Under 40 Excellence in Leadership Award for outstanding leadership in her law firm and community, and Stokes received both the President's Award and the Outstanding Woman Lawyer in a Solo/Small Firm Award from the Women’s Law Division of the NBA. See photos from the event.

School Supply Drive — The Memphis Bar Association YLD is hosting a school supply drive benefiting Downtown Elementary. Drop off items at the MBA or various BankTN locations until Sept. 2. Items needed include Crayola crayons (24 count), Kleenex, glue sticks, copier paper, composition notebooks (wide ruled), Ziploc storage bags, spiral notebooks (wide rules and 1 subject), Crayola washable markers, Expo dry erase markers, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, plastic pocket folders, filler paper (wide ruled), and paper towels.

2022 Golf Tournament — Have a killer swing? Enjoy a little competition? Want to use your killer swing and competition to benefit others? Save the date for Oct. 14! The MBA YLD Golf Tournament will benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis. The tournament will start at 1 p.m. CDT with a shotgun start. Entry fee is $100 for individuals and $375 for teams.

Volunteer Breakfast — The Knoxville Bar Association Barristers is looking for volunteers to serve food or sponsor the monthly Volunteer Breakfast. The breakfast serves the unhoused in Knoxville and takes place from 6:15 to 7:15 a.m. EDT on the fourth Thursday of each month at the Volunteer Ministry Center, 511 N. Broadway, Knoxville 37917. The cost is $150 to sponsor and four to five volunteers are needed for each breakfast. Contact Matt Knable at 865-360-5044 or Laura Wyrick at 865-297-5511 with any questions and/or about volunteering. Sign up to sponsor a breakfast.

The TBA will hold its first book club discussion event on Sept. 19 at 4 p.m. CDT. Members voted Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, a nonfiction story on dozens of murders plaguing the Osage Indian nation of Oklahoma in the 1920s, as the first quarterly title. The Osage murders began shortly after oil was discovered on tribal land, making them the richest people per capita in the world. The mystery became one of the FBI’s first major homicide investigations, led by a young J. Edgar Hoover. This one-hour event will feature special guest Prof. Derrick Beetso, director of Indian gaming and tribal self-governance programs at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, who will lead the virtual discussion. Learn more and register here.

This month marks 10 years of practice for me. While this is a milestone I am happy to hit, it sadly means I am almost out of the YLD. One piece of advice given to me early in my career was, “Take care of your practice for the first 10 years, and it will take care of you for the rest of your life.” I guess I’m about to learn if that’s true. For those in the early years of “taking care of your practice,” here are a few things that worked for me:

Get Out and Meet People

Strike the iron while it is hot! Being new to practice is something you will only have once. The longer you go, the less likely you are to get out and meet people. Whether you form relationships with other young lawyers, young professionals or other community groups, this is the perfect time to lay the foundation for lifelong relationships. You will have something automatically in common with other new practitioners: you are all new and trying to figure it out.

Networking has helped me build my book of business. I get a large portion of my referrals from other attorneys who are either conflicted out of cases or who do not practice immigration law. These referrals are not just people I’ve met here in year 10 of my practice, but rather people I met years ago and only see sporadically now.

For those of you who aren’t in private practice looking to build a book of business, getting to know fellow young lawyers can be invaluable and useful when you least expect it. Knowing other practicing attorneys can be useful to bounce facts or ideas off of or even ask ethical questions. As an example, my firm had a case with a damages limit question. As I was talking about it, I discovered another young lawyer was working on a very similar case on appeal before the Tennessee Supreme Court. That young lawyer was very generous and shared their briefs and motions with me. Our firm was able to use those in our case, and our settlement offer went from next to nothing to almost a million dollars. That was more than a fair exchange for the hours that I could have been billing if I didn’t go to that one happy hour event.

Realize That Work Life Balance Means More Work Than Life Sometimes

Sometimes you are going to have to burn the midnight oil. With any balance there has to be give and take, especially as a young lawyer who may be dealing with people with an old school mentality at work. In order for you to be successful, you are going to have to make personal sacrifices from time to time. You may have to work long hours on a case before trial, take calls after work or on weekends, miss that morning workout, etc. Making peace with that and knowing that the rewards will come makes the losses feel worth it.

When figuring out what work-life balance works best for you, talk to people around you about expectations. Ask a partner what hours and productivity they would like to see and what is expected of a starting associate and of someone wanting to make partner. You don’t want to be failing to meet expectations that you don’t even know exist. If you are dealing directly with clients, consider communicating what your boundaries are while also zealously advocating for their interests and letting them know they are a priority to you.

You Have to Make Deposits to Eventually Take Out Withdrawals

While this entire piece is about investing in your practice early, you also need to invest in those around you. This can mainly be summed up as “Don’t Be a Jerk.” Everyone needs a favor from time to time. As such, my advice is to be kind and generous with everyone you encounter. My personal experience is with private practice, so my advice is catered to those starting out in private practice. Do you have wisdom to share with young lawyers? The publications team would love to hear your advice. Please feel free to email them to yldpub@tnbar.org and they will share them either in a future newsletter or on social media!

Brittany Thomas Faith is president of the TBA YLD this year. She practices in immigration law at Grant Konvalinka & Harrison in Chattanooga and can be reached at bfaith@gkhpc.com.

Registration for the first-ever Southeastern States Young Lawyers Summit has been extended to Sept. 7 so there is still time to attend! Don’t miss this unique opportunity to join young lawyers from across the South for a magical experience that only Disney World can provide. Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club will serve as host hotel for the conference, which will include compelling continuing education programs, collaboration, networking opportunities and some fun after several COVID-challenged years.

For hotel accommodations, we still have overflow rooms at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights but rooms must be booked by the end of today.

We also are looking for sponsors to underwrite this event. Partnering with YLD groups across the Southeast will provide a unique opportunity for your firm or legal service to showcase its areas of expertise, build its reputation in the region and highlight opportunities for collaboration and referral work. Sponsorship opportunities range from $250 to $1,000! Contact TBA Sponsorship Coordinator Stacey Shrader Joslin for more information about these opportunities.

Finally, please share your Mickey pictures! We want to see your Disney baby pictures (or from any timeframe of life)! We will feature pictures in upcoming issues of this newsletter. Email pictures to yldpub@tnbar.org.

Saying the public has a “strong interest” in seeing the actions of federal agents during a 2018 raid on a slaughterhouse in Grainger County, U.S. Magistrate Chris Steger rejected an attempt by the agents to keep a video of the raid from being released. Tennessee Lookout and Paul McAdoo with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press had filed for the video to be unsealed. According to a news source, the video shows the U.S. government engaged in excessive force during the raid, including a segment where one agent placed his boot on the neck of a worker who was facedown with his hands behind his back. The video was released on Aug. 19.

A celebration of life will be held Sept. 22 for Micki Fox, longtime business manager of the Tennessee Law Review and continuing legal education (CLE) coordinator for the University of Tennessee College of Law. The event will take place from 5-8 p.m. EDT at the Emporium, 100 S. Gay St., Knoxville, TN 37902. For more details or to RSVP email stephanie.slater@tncourts.gov by Sept. 1. Any funds received in excess of expenses will be donated to the Tennessee Law Review Association in Fox’s honor.

Juvenile justice advocates in Shelby County are pushing for a “third way” when it comes to sentencing juveniles, Local Memphis reports. Currently, juveniles are either transferred to adult court, where they face major sentencing for violent crimes, or they are released when they turn age 19 and are no longer under juvenile court jurisdiction. Advocates argue that a “blended sentence” — which would allow juvenile sentences to be extended through age 21 — would offer a better chance of rehabilitation. State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, said yesterday he will introduce legislation this fall to make the county a pilot program for a blended sentencing program.