The Supreme Court held today that the Board of Professional Responsibility failed to prove that attorney James S. MacDonald violated any Rules of Professional Conduct, resulting in the dismissal of the disciplinary allegations against him. The original petition for discipline was filed against MacDonald after he added the signature of the opposing party to a copy of a draft letter that he believed, in the original transmission, was signed and sent by the opposing party. The hearing panel of the BPR determined the BPR had failed to establish a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct, but on appeal by the BPR, a trial court reversed that holding. MacDonald then appealed to the Supreme Court which unanimously decided he had added the signature in good faith that there was a signed original, thus reinstating the hearing panel’s dismissal of the petition for discipline against MacDonald. Read the unanimous opinion.

Huntersville, North Carolina, attorney George Cooper Bell, was today censured by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Bell received a public reprimand issued by the Grievance Committee of the North Carolina State Bar on Aug. 7, 2019, for making a false statement to the court. A Notice of Reciprocal Discipline was issued on Oct. 28, 2019, giving Bell 30 days to inform the court why the discipline imposed by the Grievance Committee of the North Carolina State Bar should not be imposed by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Bell provided no response.

Scribes, The American Society of Legal Writers, has announced that a team of three Belmont College of Law students, all of whom graduated in 2019, have won an annual award for best student-written brief in the country. The brief, written by Allyson Lynch, Paul Madden and Sarah Martin, was entered into the national competition after winning best regional brief at last year’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition. Belmont Law professor and director of advocacy, Amy Moore, said the award was a tribute to the legal writing and advocacy programs and the hard work of Belmont’s students. “Out of all the briefs that won competitions around the nation, ours was the very best.” Read more on Belmont’s website.

On a recent episode of the TBA Legislative Updates podcast, the TBA’s director of public policy and government affairs, Berkley Schwarz, and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist, Brad Lampley, review the TBA initiatives, written and proposed by several TBA sections, that were introduced during session this week. The show livestreams on the TBA’s Facebook page every Thursday. Legislative Updates is part of the Tennessee Bar Association Podcast Network and can be found on the TBA's website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Nashville Bar Association will host Diversity 2020: Setting the Vision for Diversity within the Legal Profession on March 6-7 at Belmont University in Nashville. The Tennessee Bar Association and the TBA Young Lawyers Division are among the sponsors of this day-and-a-half conference that will focus on the importance of moving beyond achieving diversity in numbers toward the higher goal of inclusion within the workplace. Everyone is welcome to attend, but the target audience of the event includes hiring partners, managers, organizational diversity and inclusion officers, human resource officers or anyone responsible for recruitment or retention within a firm or organization. Find more information and get registered on the NBA’s website.   

Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands will host a Veteran’s Legal Clinic on Feb. 18 in Clarksville. The event will run from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Operation Standown Clarksville, 400 Madison St., Clarksville. For more information email Kendra Cheek or call at 615-780-7131.

What lessons can a lawyer learn from the Kardashians? Stuart Teicher — the CLE Performer — will answer that question and more during this event at the Tennessee Bar Center on Feb. 27 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. Topics include the importance of confidentiality when dealing with new technologies, trial publicity issues, the duty to self-report mistakes and more. Read more on the TBA’s website.

Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison has formed a government compliance and investigations practice group that will bring together litigators with federal and state investigations experience and transactional and regulatory counsel with experience in an array of compliance issues. The group will provide guidance on issues ranging from key contractual protections, initial compliance and construction of compliance programs, to internal investigations, responses to subpoenas or civil investigative demands, self-disclosure, settlement and litigation. Christopher Sabis, a former assistant U.S. attorney, will serve as group chair. He is also immediate past chair of the TBA Federal Practice Section. Read more from the Tennessean. 

Nominations are being accepted for the TBA’s Public Service and Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative Awards. The Annual Public Service Awards are presented to outstanding public service and pro bono attorneys and law student while the CCPBI Awards recognize a law firm and legal department that exemplify commitment to access to justice ideals and pro bono service. The three Public Service Awards will be presented at the annual Public Service Luncheon on Friday, April 3. The CCPBI Awards will be presented at the 14th Annual CCPBI Gala on Saturday, April 4. Both events will be held at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville in conjunction with the TBA Annual Leadership Conference. The deadline for submitting nominations for all awards is Monday, Feb. 17. For more information, contact TBA Access to Justice Director Liz Todaro.

A search committee for the University of Tennessee College of Law has identified four candidates they are considering for dean of the law school. Those candidates are: Professor Joan Heminway, University Tennessee College of Law; Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion Susan Kuo, University of South Carolina School of Law; Dean Stephen Mazza, University of Kansas College of Law; and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development Amelia Rinehart, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. The candidates will meet with students, faculty, staff and alumni during their visits to the law school this month. Read more on the law school’s website.