Henry County General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge Vicki S. Snyder was recently honored with the Presidential Leadership Award from the Tennessee Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. Snyder was recognized for her years of meritorious leadership and unwavering support to the juvenile courts across the state of Tennessee. In addition to the General Sessions and Juvenile courts, Snyder presides over Safe Baby Court in Henry County. “They say if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life,” Snyder said. “I feel like that.” The Administrative Office of the Courts has more on Snyder’s extensive work in the juvenile justice system.  

Several third-year students at the University of Tennessee College of Law were recently honored for their leadership and overall excellence at the 2022 Julian Blackshear Jr. Gala, hosted by the Black Law Student Association. The 20th annual scholarship event celebrates the College’s commitment to diversity and recognizes pioneers like Blackshear whose experiences influenced positive change. Interim Dean Doug Blaze and incoming Dean Lonnie T. Brown Jr. both spoke, as did Blackshear’s daughter, Lillian Blackshear, who accepted an award on her father’s behalf. Mecca Shabazz received the Roy BJ Campbelle Leadership Award; Zaria Walker received the Julian Blackshear Outstanding Student Award; and Mikayla Swinson was honored with the Frank Ennix Award for Excellence. Read more from the College of Law.

Crossville attorney Patrick Reynolds Egger passed away on Saturday. He was 71. Born in California, Egger was a 1972 graduate of Notre Dame University. He practiced law in California for 30 years before relocating to Crossville, where he continued to work as a public defender. A Celebration of Life service was held today for family and friends and a California service will be set at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. Jude Childrens’ Research Hospital.

The bill putting residency requirements in place for most Congressional hopefuls became a law yesterday despite Gov. Bill Lee’s refusal to sign it, the Associated Press reports. Under the new law, U.S. House and Senate candidates must be Tennessee residents for at least three years and residents of the county they’ll represent for at least one. Lawmakers began seriously pursuing the measure after former President Donald Trump endorsed 5th District Congressional candidate Morgan Ortagus, who legislators pointed out is new to Nashville and Tennessee. But a spokesperson for Secretary of State Tre Hargett clarified that the “requirement does not apply retroactively” to anyone who qualified for the race by the April 7 deadline – which includes Ortagus. A lawsuit challenging the bill has already been filed by several Ortagus supporters. A spokesperson for Lee explained why the governor withheld his signature from the rule, saying he feels “voters are best able to determine who should represent them in Congress.”  

The Tennessee Supreme Court today denied a petition from the Nashville Bar Association (NBA) that would have required attorneys to annually complete two hours of CLE programming on diversity, inclusion, equity and elimination of bias. The NBA’s proposed amendment to Rule 21, section 3.01(a) was published by the Supreme Court in September 2020 and public comments were accepted until March 2021. The high court said it received 57 comments from members of the bar, the public and other organizations. In today’s order, the court recognized “the importance of ensuring that our judicial system and the legal profession are free from bias or prejudice and encouraging related continuing legal education,” but ultimately declined the NBA’s petition. Read the order here.  

A new episode of the TBA Legislative Updates podcast is now streaming with TBA Public Policy & Government Affairs Director Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist Brad Lampley. This week, Berkley and Brad discuss the Tennessee Supreme Court’s ruling on the Senate redistricting plan and the TBA’s probate bill (HB2359/SB1799) which just cleared the Senate, as well as providing an update on the professional privilege tax. To see a list of all of TBA’s bills, visit our online bill tracker. Legislative Updates airs every Thursday on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Meet Chelsea Bennett, the TBA’s Senior Education & Professional Development Coordinator! When she’s not gardening or rockin’ out at concerts and music festivals, Chelsea can be found working with the executive councils of several TBA Sections to produce CLE programs and section newsletters and coordinating section-specific legislative needs. PLUS, she runs the TBA Scaling Small Law Program, helps coordinate the new Women in the Profession Committee and MUCH more! #TeamTBA

The #TeamTBA series offers members a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the TBA and how each staff members makes the association run. Check back every Wednesday for a new staff profile in TBA Today and on the TBA's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. 

Health care attorney Nina Kumar received Nashville Cable’s 2022 ATHENA Young Professional Award during the organization’s award ceremony last month, Main Street Nashville reports. Chaired by attorney Liz Sitgreaves, the event marked the 32nd year that Nashville Cable has recognized local accomplished women. Kumar is an attorney at Ardent Health Services. She was previously a partner at Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough LLP and began her legal career as a clerk for Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Holly Kirby. As part of the program, Cable presented $9,000 in scholarships to eight female rising college students and one female nontraditional student.  

The early voting period for Tennessee’s May 3 primary begins April 13. Voters will have until April 28 to cast an early vote. Information on polling locations and hours can be found on the following sites: Chattanooga, the Chattanoogan; Clarksville, Clarksville Now; Knoxville, WBIR; Memphis, WREG; Nashville, the Tennessean. To check your voter registration status, head over to the Tennessee Secretary of State website.

A special judge ruled yesterday that Shelby County will not be required to open additional early voting sites during Holy Week, the Commercial Appeal reports. The ruling came after the NAACP Memphis Branch, #UpTheVote901 and the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis sued the Shelby County Election Commission to keep them from implementing a resolution opening just its downtown location on the first two days of early voting and five other sites on the fourth day. The groups say the resolution would disenfranchise minority voters throughout early voting in the upcoming county election. Much of the argument Monday centered on whether churches were willing to act as early voting sites during Holy Week. “The question is, do I disrupt the entire Shelby County election based on what I’ve heard at this point?" Judge James Butler asked. "And the court is not prepared to do that.”