Public speaking is a core leadership skill and in today’s business environment, attorneys are expected to be comfortable with everything from moderating a panel discussion to leading a virtual meeting. Mimi Bliss of Bliss Communications has updated her highly-rated CLE on virtual presentations to cover a range of professional situations, from virtual courtrooms to professional conferences, panel discussions, and informal communications. In this on-demand workshop, you’ll learn how to sharpen your message; engage your audience; master the virtual presentation, including technology tools, lighting and set-up; and use voice, gestures and eye contact to speak effectively. Attorneys who participated in last year’s workshop said the speaking tips were actionable and relevant to lawyers. Join us online July 19 from 12-1 p.m. CST for this CLE and receive one dual credit hour.

Memphis Area Legal Services will host the June Second Saturday Legal Advice Clinic on July 8 at the Benjamin Hooks Central Library, 3030 Poplar Ave., Memphis 38111 from 10 a.m.-noon CDT. The clinic operates on a first come, first served basis.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld decades-old federal standards that give preferences to Native Americans and tribal members in the adoption or foster care placement of Native American children, rejecting a challenge that claimed that parts of the law were racially biased against non-Native Americans. Reuters reports that the 7-2 ruling threw out a lower court's decision that had struck down — as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law — a requirement that "other Indian families" receive preference in adoption and foster care after members of a child's extended family or tribe members.

The July/August issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal is available online. Our cover story is an interview with retiring Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee about her career spanning more than two decades as a small-town lawyer to her appointment to the highest court in the state. Also featured is retired Judge Walter Kurtz's article on the Code of Judicial Conduct and its challenges in state courts, Amy Willoughby Bryant's piece laying out the case for the state to improve oversight of conservatorships, and Everett Hixson's article on the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling in Donovan v. Hastings that strengthens the state's "loser pays" statute. Also in this issue are columns from Buddy Stockwell, Wade Davies and Russell Fowler; a review of Jeff Hobbs' book "Children of the State;" as well as news from TBA's Annual Convention and President Jim Barry's vision for the 2023-2024 bar year. 

For the week of June 26, 2023 - June 30, 2023.

Justice Sharon G. Lee sat down with Tennessee Bar Journal Editor Julia Canada Wilburn to talk about her upcoming retirement and share highlights from her career as a lawyer, judge and Supreme Court justice.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that persons who lose the right to vote in Tennessee because of a criminal conviction in another state must comply with requirements set forth in two different Tennessee statutes, both of which address voting rights, in order to regain their right to vote. Justice Jeff Bivins, writing for the majority, ruled that individuals seeking to reinstate their right to vote must comply with both Tenn. Code. Ann. section 2-19-143(3), which requires the state to re-enfranchise persons convicted of out-of-state infamous crimes as soon as said persons are “pardoned or restored to the rights of citizenship by the governor or other appropriate authority of such other state," as well as the additional requirements set forth in Tenn. Code Ann. section 40-29-202, which requires that persons convicted of infamous crimes pay outstanding court costs, restitution and child support obligations before they can be re-enfranchised. Justice Sharon Lee dissented, stating that the plaintiff had been granted clemency, which restored his voting rights, so the requirement under section 40-29-202 does not apply because the plaintiff had no need to have his voting rights restored.

Chancellor Louis Oliver III has ruled that a lawsuit filed by the Sumner County Election Commission against the county’s mayor and the county commission will be allowed to continue. The Tennessee Lookout reports that the lawsuit was filed in May after members of the Sumner County Commission sought to evict election officials from their offices and warehouse space used to store voting machines — potentially leaving machines unsecured and out of easy reach of election officials who need ready access to them.

Sumner County has officially eliminated its Human Resources Department. According to the Tennessee Lookout, this week’s 19-4 decision is part of an ongoing approach to “streamline government and decrease bureaucratic function,” Commissioner Jeremy Mansfield said in advance of the vote. Commissioner Baker Ring was among those opposed to the measure, noting that the county is currently facing multiple lawsuits over policy actions taken by the county commission since a turnover in membership ushered in a majority of members who campaigned on limiting government in the last election.

The Jabari Bailey Highway Safety Act, named after a Memphis teen who was injured while pulled over along the highway, will add more requirements to Tennessee’s “Move Over Law” when it goes into effect Saturday. WATE in Knoxville reports that the act, sponsored by Knoxville Republican Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, requires motorists to change lanes and move away from any vehicle that is stationary on the side of the road with its hazard lights on. The previous “Move Over Law” only applied to emergency vehicles pulled over on the side of the road; this amendment is also intended keep road work crews safer.