Deadline to Apply to Run for TBA?Office is Feb. 15, 2018

During 2018, the following officers, governors and delegates of the Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) will be elected as set forth in the association’s bylaws:

TBA Officers and Board of Governors

A vice president (from the West Tennessee Grand Division — elected by the association’s membership-at-large). The vice president automatically assumes the office of president-elect in 2019 and president in 2020.

ORVILLE ALMON JR. of Nashville died on Oct. 29. He was 67. Almon served in the U.S. Army after college before attending the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, where he earned his law degree. He was a founding member of Zumwalt, Almon and Hayes in 1983, and later opened his own private practice, Almon Law, in 2010. He practiced in the entertainment and music law industry.

TBA to Launch New Adoption Law Section in 2018

November 13, 2017

COURT SUPPORTS CHANGES TO INDIGENT REPRESENTATION

The Tennessee Supreme Court announced in October it will support reform of the state’s method for providing legal assistance to individuals unable to afford an attorney.

Responding to a report from its Indigent Representation Task Force, the court said it will seek funding to increase the rate attorneys are paid to work on such cases to $65 per hour, and will also request an appropriation in next year’s budget to raise compensation caps by $500 on all felonies and by $250 on juvenile matters.

Former Tennessee Bar Association Executive Director BILLIE ROBERTA BETHEL died Sept. 9. She was 85. A native of Missouri, Bethel earned her law degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1957. She practiced in Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee before joining the TBA. She managed the organization for 18 years, until she moved to Gatlinburg in 1982. Following the move, she practiced law alongside her husband, Frank Newman Bratton. For the past 12 years she lived in Jefferson City at the Jefferson City Health and Rehabilitation Center.

Court Announces Support for Changes to Indigent Representation

October 3, 2017

Legal Resources Made Available in Wake of Hurricanes

Lawyers are serving as critical “second responders” helping with legal needs for those affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Soon after Harvey hit the Texas coast in August, the state’s Supreme Court went into action. By issuing an emergency order allowing out-of-state lawyers to practice Texas law temporarily, the court opened the avenue for legal help to pour in from other states.

RONALD GORDON “RON” DAVES of Knoxville died on Aug. 9. He was 74. Originally from North Carolina, Daves served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1962 to 1965. Prior to earning his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law, he served as an investigator for the Tennessee Human Rights Commission. He was a member of Wimberly Lawson Wright Daves and Jones PLLC and practiced in labor and employment law since 1986.

Magazine Probes Immigration Issues in Tennessee

September 11, 2017

October is “Celebrate Pro Bono Month,” and Tennessee lawyers are joining their colleagues across the country to provide free legal services to those in need and honor the good work performed by lawyers every day as part of the annual National Pro Bono Celebration.

Now in its ninth year, the TBA’s statewide Celebrate Pro Bono initiative brings together legal services providers with local bar associations, law schools, law firms and individual lawyers to offer free services to those unable to afford a lawyer.