Attorney William Richard “Rick” Baker passed away suddenly at his Blount County home on March 3. He was 58. Baker earned his law degree from the University of Memphis in 1988 and practiced as a plaintiff’s attorney his entire career. He was a member of the American Association for Justice and the Tennessee Association for Justice. Memorial donations can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. A private service will be held at a later date.

In honor of Women’s History Month, the TBA has rallied its past, current and future female presidents for a one-hour conversation on their experiences, influences and the impact women have made on the legal profession. The virtual panel will take place on March 24 from 3 to 4 p.m. CDT. TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson will moderate the panel, which will include: former TBA presidents Sarah Sheppeard, Cindy Wyrick, Jackie Dixon, Gail Ashworth, Marcy Eason and Kathryn Reed Edge; TBA Vice President Tasha Blakney; TBA President-elect Sherie Edwards; and current TBA President Michelle Greenway Sellers. Register now.

The legal profession in Tennessee has a storied history of strong women who broke down the barriers that stood between them and the practice of law. Early examples of those trailblazers include Lutie Lytle and Marion Griffin.

Lytle secured many “firsts” in her legal career: first Black woman to earn a law degree in the South; first woman, of any color, to be admitted to Tennessee’s bar; first African American female member of a national bar organization. Though Lytle was the first woman admitted to the state bar, she taught at Central Tennessee College’s law department instead of actively practicing. She later moved to Topeka, where she became the first Black woman admitted to the Kansas bar and became a dedicated pro bono lawyer whose practice was focused on fighting the oppression of women and African Americans. Russell Fowler’s 2018 article for the Tennessee Bar Journal, “A Woman of Many Firsts,” tells of how Lytle passed an oral bar exam and earned her admission to the state bar in a time when the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that women were not qualified to be lawyers.   

Several years after Lytle was admitted to practice, Marion Griffin began her seven-year battle for admission to the state’s bar. Her petition to be licensed, In Re Griffin, 71 S.W. 746 (Tenn. 1901), was dismissed 3-2 by the Tennessee Supreme Court on common law grounds. In 1907, Griffin persuaded the General Assembly and governor to pass a statute allowing women access to the bar. She would later become the first woman elected to the Tennessee House and she practiced law in Memphis for more than 40 years. Featured in the Tennessee Bar Journal’s January 2011 issue, Sam Elliott’s article, “The Progress of Women Lawyers,” has more on Griffin.

The good work of Lytle and Griffin opened the door for women to practice law in Tennessee and set the stage for more trailblazers to follow. Tennessee Bar Journal Editor Suzanne Craig Robertson details the lives and work of early women lawyers in the state in “It’s Not Just for White Men Anymore” from the TBJ April 2005 issue and in “50 Years of Pioneers: Early Women in Tennessee Law” from the July 2001 issue.

Jackson attorney David Hardee passed away on March 17 after a battle with the COVID-19 virus. He was 67. Hardee received his law degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and went on to help form the law firm now known as Hardee, Martin & Owens in 1986. Hardee was admitted to practice in all Tennessee courts and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and was a member of the state and American Associations for Justice and the Inns of Court. Hardee’s memorial service was held at Northside Church yesterday and a video of the service can be found on Northside’s Facebook page. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Women of Hope Recovery Center, P.O. Box 94, Medon, TN, 38356, or RIFA, P.O. Box 2301, Jackson, TN, 38302. 

TBA CLE will host Real Estate Concerns in Elder Law on March 23 from 11 a.m. until noon CDT. This live virtual event will be led by Barbara Moss from Elder Law of Nashville and George Mudter of Mudter, Patterson & Cox PLLC, who will discuss the intersection of elder and real estate laws, including, best practices, common concerns and more.

The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday approved the applications of two law firms to be licensed under the state’s new Alternative Business Structure program, which allows lawyers and nonlawyers to co-own law firms together, Arizona’s ABC15 reports. The state became the first in the country to abolish the rule barring non-attorney ownership of law firms, effective on Jan. 1. Trajan Estate LLC in Gilbert and Payne Huebsch PLC in Mesa are the first firms to be licensed for the new hybrid business model. Trajan Estate is a legal service provider focused on estate planning, while Payne Huebsch provides transactional legal services paired with tax and accounting advice. The news comes after the country’s first entirely nonlawyer-owned law firm opened in Utah earlier this week.

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Holly Kirby will be featured in an upcoming event from the Memphis Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society on March 25 at noon CDT. The program, The Tennessee Constitution: Its History and Key Distinctives, will take place virtually. Those who wish to register may do so by contacting Greg Grisham or by signing up online. A link to the webcast will be sent following registration.   

Austin Peay State University is seeking volunteer attorneys to help with a virtual legal clinic for the student body on March 29 from 3 to 5 p.m. CDT. The clinic is a free opportunity for students to discuss their civil legal problems with volunteer attorneys. The clinic will be conducted via Zoom and is not limited to local attorneys. Register here to volunteer for the event.

Law on Call, the first law firm to be owned entirely by nonlawyers in the U.S., opened its doors recently in Utah, the ABA Journal reports. The firm’s opening is a result of sweeping changes to legal services regulation in Utah that were approved by the Utah Supreme Court in August. The two-year pilot project allows law firms with nonlawyer owners and nontraditional legal service providers to operate in a “regulatory sandbox” in the state. Law on Call clients pay $9 per month to get unlimited phone access to lawyers who can offer advice in the areas of business law, end-of-life planning, contracts, employment, housing and real estate. If legal work is needed, the discounted rates start at $100 per hour.

Legislation that would allow for permitless handgun carry for most adults 21 and older in the state has advanced through the Tennessee Senate, the Associated Press reports. Senators approved the HB18/SB318 on a 23-9 vote and it must now pass the state House. Gov. Bill Lee has backed the bill, which applies to concealed or open carry, and is expected to sign it into law. Republican senators tweaked the original bill to ban those who had been convicted of stalking or driving under the influence from being able to carry a firearm. Those who had been hospitalized or judicially committed in a mental institution would also be banned. The bill carries an estimated $17.7 million price tag because it increases penalties on gun-related crimes and anticipates more incarcerations as a result.