Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will conduct four phone clinics this week for members of the public with questions about housing and renters’ rights, bankruptcy, medical bills, debt collection, domestic violence, SNAP benefits and unemployment benefits. Clinics will take place yoday from 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. CDT, Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT, and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. CDT. LAS is looking for attorney volunteers to help answer legal questions during these clinics. See the list of clinics for all of October.  To volunteer for a clinic, contact Andrae Crismon or Kendra Cheek or call 615-780-7131. 

Volunteer Breakfast Needs Sponsors & Volunteers - Please sponsor and/or volunteer for the next Volunteer Breakfast, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 14. The breakfast is a recurring event on the fourth Thursday of each month at 6:15 a.m. Breakfast is served at the Volunteer Ministry Center, located at 511 N. Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917.  The cost is $150 to sponsor a breakfast. Sponsorship is simply a monetary donation to supply the groceries for the breakfast. Please complete the Volunteer Breakfast Sponsorship Form if you are interested in sponsoring an upcoming breakfast. If you are interested in volunteering yourself, a group or firm, please fill out this Volunteer Sign Up Form.  If you have any question or concerns, please contact committee co-chairs Mitchell Panter at (865) 546-4646 or Matt Knable at (865) 360-5044.

Don't miss the latest episode of "TBA YLD Presents: War Stories" podcast. Available on TBA's website and anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Just want to give a shout out to some of our Young Lawyers! Last month on July 23, YLD attorneys conducted a virtual expungement clinic to serve low income Tennesseans. The clinic was organized by YLD Access to Justice and Restoration Coordinator Alix Rogers and held in partnership with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands.

YLD members Brian Bush, Charles Ferguson, Sam Wantland, Stephanie Rogers, Anthony Adewumi, John Wilks, Billy Leslie, Sean Aiello, Eliabeth Wolfe, Ross Smith and Matt Knable volunteered for the clinic.  During the clinic, 10 low-income clients were assisted with determining their eligibility for expungement and completing their expungement paperwork. In addition to helping with expungement, the YLD volunteers also gave the clients information and advice on voting rights restoration. The YLD is thankful to continue our public service work in a safe, virtual setting and proud to have members dedicated to increasing access to justice.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has ordered cancellation of the Uniform Bar Examination in Tennessee scheduled for Sept. 30 - Oct. 1, citing the current trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although stringent public health and safety protocols were planned for the administration of the examination, the court decided that the in-person fall examination could not be safely administered with reasonable certainty.  To mitigate delay and uncertainty, the court ordered the Board of Law Examiners to administer an online, remotely-proctored alternative admissions assessment on Oct. 5-6, that will be comprised of questions prepared by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE). The assessment will be comprised of a Multistate Performance Test item, three Multistate Essay Examination questions, and 100 Multistate Bar Examination questions.

Applicants who pass the online bar examination will be eligible for admission in Tennessee. Although successful applicants will not earn a portable Uniform Bar Examination score, the Board of Law Examiners has entered into reciprocal agreements with the District of Columbia, Maryland and Massachusetts for transfer of scores earned on the same online exam as a qualifying score for admission and is working to establish similar agreements with other jurisdictions offering the same online exam.

More information about the court’s decision can be found here.

The TBA Board of Governors has selected Hamilton County General Sessions Judge Alexander McVeagh to fill the vacant position of Young Lawyer Delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates. McVeagh will fill the post vacated by Troy Weston, who resigned to move out of state. McVeagh also serves as East Tennessee governor on the TBA YLD Board, and previously served as a judicial liaison and as Hamilton County’s representative to the YLD Board since 2015. He also is president-elect of the Chattanooga Bar Association YLD. Currently Tennessee’s youngest judge, McVeagh was appointed by Gov. Bill Haslam in May 2017. He previously practiced with Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, the Tennessee Public Defenders Conference and the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee.

Veterans Legal Advice Clinic - Please mark your calendars to volunteer at the upcoming Veterans Legal Advice Clinic on Wednesday, July 8. The Veterans Legal Advice Clinic is a general advice and referral clinic that assist between 20 and 30 veterans in the community each month with a wide variety of legal issues.  Volunteers are needed between 12 -2 p.m. EDT on the 2nd Wednesday of every month. The clinic takes place at the Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office, located at 1101 Liberty St., Knoxville, TN 37919. Please sign up online.

Volunteer Breakfast Sponsors & Volunteers - Please sponsor and/or volunteer for the upcoming Volunteer Breakfast event, scheduled for this Thursday, June 25. The Volunteer Breakfast is a recurring event on the 4th Thursday of each month at 6:15 a.m. EDT. We will serve breakfast at the Volunteer Ministry Center, located at 511 N. Broadway, Knoxville, TN 37917. If you are interested in volunteering yourself, a group or firm, please fill out the Volunteer Sign Up Form.  

If you cannot volunteer, we encourage you to sponsor a Volunteer Breakfast for $150. Sponsorship is simply a monetary donation to supply the groceries for the Volunteer Breakfast. Please complete the Volunteer Breakfast Sponsorship Form if you are interested in sponsoring an upcoming breakfast. If you have any question or concerns, please contact committee co-chairs Mitchell Panter at (865) 546-4646 or Matt Knable at (865) 360-5044.

Law & Liberty Award Nominations - The Barristers Constitution & School Outreach Committee is now accepting nominations for the Law & Liberty Award. Nominees do not have to be attorneys to qualify for the award. Consider those individuals in your firm, in local civic and religious organizations, or in the community who have worked to improve our legal system and protect our civil liberties. The deadline for nominations is July 31. Please contact Zack Walden or Mikel Towe with nominations or if you have any questions. Click here to view nomination guidelines.

Any young lawyers from the state's Middle Grand Division interested in the position of TBA YLD president elect should send a statement of interest to YLD Coordinator Stephanie Vonnahme. The statement should include reasons for interest in the position and any related experience. Current TBA YLD Board members may also nominate YLD members to fill the vacancy. Statements of support are also welcome. All submissions are due by 4 p.m. CDT on June 26. Candidates must be current TBA members. The successful candidate will serve as president-elect during the 2020-2021 bar year and as president of the division during the 2021-2022 bar year.

The 2020-2021 YLD Executive Committee will meet to review submissions by June 30, with an announcement by July 1.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue’s professional privilege tax is due July 1, 2020.

This $400 annual tax is imposed on certain professionals who hold an active Tennessee license or registration on the June 1 due date, regardless of whether the person practices his or her profession in Tennessee. 

State law requires this tax to be paid online. Tennessee Taxpayer Access Point (TNTAP) allows you to easily submit payment here: https://tntap.tn.gov/eservices.  To pay, you will need your social security number, account ID or license type and license number. If you do not know your account number, a professional privilege tax account number search is available on TNTAP’s homepage.

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the Taxpayer Services Division at (615) 253-0600. More information about the professional privilege tax can be found at www.tn.gov/revenue.