The Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women (TLAW) will host its 8th Annual Empowerment Conference on Dec. 12 at Holland & Knight's downtown Nashville office. A mediator/ADR panel will be moderated by retired Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee, and will feature Germantown attorney Anne Davis with the Gill Law Firm, retired Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Janice Holder and Brentwood attorney Anne Hunter. The session will explore best practices in mediation, alternative dispute resolution and ethical considerations, offering practical strategies for navigating complex legal matters. The luncheon keynote speaker will be Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Mary Wagner. To see the full agenda and register, visit TLAW's website.

The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) is aware of a phishing email circulating that falsely appears to come from Executive Director Sheree Wright and asks recipients to confirm a phone number. The TBA has confirmed that (1) the message is fraudulent, (2) no TBA systems or member data have been compromised, and (3) the attackers obtained email addresses from sources outside the organization. Several other state bar associations nationwide reported the same scam today. Please delete the message if you receive it and consider reporting it to your IT contact or security team, and be assured that the TBA does not request unsolicited personal or contact information by email. Thank you to those members whose quick reports helped TBA staff identify the issue. Learn more about phishing scams affecting the TBA and how to protect yourself.

Memphis attorney William Carey Bateman Jr. died Nov. 26 at age 87. He graduated from East High School in 1956 and after a year at the University of Tennessee, enlisted in the U.S. Army. Batemen went on to graduate from Memphis State Law in its first graduating class of 1965. In his more than 40 years of practice, he was a partner at Johnson & Bateman, Bateman & Childers, and Bateman Gibson. He also served as an assistant city attorney during two mayoral administrations and as a JAG in the Navy reserves. Visitation will be held from 5-7 p.m. CST on Dec. 5 at Memorial Park Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave., Memphis 38119. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Dec. 6 at First Evangelical Church, 735 Ridge Lake Blvd., Memphis 38120. A private burial will occur at Memorial Park Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the Judge and Mrs. William Carey Bateman Memorial Scholarship at Union University.

In the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Sept. 16 order soliciting comments from the Tennessee legal community, the court asks whether it "should consider modifying requirements for admission to the Tennessee Bar for those licensed in other states to promote interstate practice and mobility." Comity admission is governed by Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 7, Article V. An applicant must have been engaged in the active practice of law for five of the seven years immediately preceding the application and must meet education and character and fitness requirements. The current application process is a multi-step process that can take up to 14 months, and sometimes longer, to complete. Feedback on potential modification of these requirements may be sent to TBA's newly formed Legal Access & Regulatory Reform Task Force at townhall@tnbar.org as well as directly to the court. Watch TBA Today through the month of December to learn more about the seven points in the Supreme Court’s order and specific ways to engage with the task force. Visit TBA's Legal Access & Regulatory Reform resource page for more information.

The Tennessee Bar Association will be closed Wednesday through Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. An abbreviated edition of TBA Today will be published on Wednesday. Visit the TBA website at any time to access CLE offerings and contact information for individual staff members. The office will reopen Dec. 1 at 8 a.m. CST. Happy Thanksgiving!

Law firms now account for 10.5% of U.S. office leasing activity — double their pre-pandemic share — as other industries have scaled back and firms increasingly require in-person work, Reuters reports. Strong profitability and a renewed emphasis on office presence have allowed many firms to expand or maintain space, contributing to 8.3 million square feet leased through the third quarter. While more than a third of firms expanded their footprint, nearly one-third reduced space.

The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments met in Nashville to select nominees for the upcoming vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court, which will occur with the retirement of Justice Holly Kirby on June 30, 2026. After holding a public hearing and conducting public interviews, the commission selected three names to forward to the governor. They are: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge J. Ross Dyer of Memphis; Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Kyle A. Hixson of Knoxville; and Memphis attorney Shea Sisk Wellford. View the nominees’ applications here.

A group of West Nashville residents has filed a 20-page ethics complaint against District 20 Councilmember Rollin Horton, accusing him of misuse of office, retaliation, doxxing and interfering with political activity in response to their efforts to oppose his successful rezoning plan for The Nations, according to the Nashville Post. The complaint stems largely from a failed recall effort and cites incidents including an Instagram post that displayed a resident’s address, police being called on petition gatherers and alleged pressure on business owners. Horton denies the allegations, calling them baseless and politically motivated, and says the rezoning followed extensive community engagement. Metro Legal now has two weeks to determine whether the complaint merits a full hearing before the Board of Ethical Conduct. WPLN also reports on the developments.

Shelby County General Sessions Court Judge Lonnie Thompson grew up in poverty in South Memphis and originally planned to become a classical pianist, earning a scholarship to the Oberlin Conservatory. His participation in student protests against South African apartheid led him to shift his focus from music to law. Thompson went on to earn a law degree from Georgetown and built a wide-ranging legal career before becoming a judge. And he still plays piano and organ at his Memphis church! Now elected president of the General Sessions Judges Conference, he hopes to improve court efficiency and expand community outreach. "I think general sessions is a very, very special court because it’s the court of first impression," Thompson said. "Our citizens get to see exactly what the court system is like, and they are more likely to encounter us before they will any judge on any other level." Read more in this profile from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Beginning Dec. 1, TBA Today will feature a weekly series to educate TBA members on the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Sept. 16 order soliciting comments from the Tennessee legal community. The order highlights seven points on which the court is requesting feedback as it reassesses its approach to regulation of the legal profession to ensure that all Tennesseans have access to affordable quality legal services. Specifically, the court is seeking feedback on how it approaches accreditation of law schools and practicable alternatives for accreditation, alternatives to law school in preparation for the practice of law, alternative pathways to admission to the bar, modifying requirements for admission without examination, allowing paraprofessionals to do some legal work, and allowing non-lawyer ownership of law firms.

The effort is being undertaken as large segments of the population — especially rural and low-income individuals — cannot secure legal help. According to the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), 1.2 million Tennesseans qualify for LSC-funded legal aid, yet most still receive insufficient assistance due to a lack of resources in their area or due to the restrictions on the types of cases legal service organizations are allowed to accept. In addition, a number of Tennessee counties qualify as “legal deserts.” As of 2020, the state had 20 counties with fewer than 10 lawyers each. According to the court’s order, regulatory structures may contribute to shortages and cost barriers and thus it is open to innovative models that address modern needs.

The TBA currently is accepting feedback from members — email townhall@tnbar.org with your thoughts — and has formed the Legal Access and Regulatory Reform Task Force to gather and review that feedback. Watch TBA Today through the month of December to learn more about the seven points in the Supreme Court’s order and specific ways to engage with the task force. A website with resources will launch next week in conjunction with the first item in the weekly series.