Memphis lawyer George Washington Graham Sr. died recently at the age of 69. Originally from St. Louis, Graham earned his law degree from St. Louis University and worked as a lawyer and certified public accountant in Missouri and Tennessee. Graham was a partner with Goins, Graham, and Associates in Memphis and worked as senior assistant attorney for the city for more than 15 years. Read more about his life in this post from the Memphis Bar Association.

Funeral services will be held next Friday for former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice William Muecke Barker. Visitation will take place at 10 a.m., followed by a funeral at 11 a.m. and a reception at noon EDT at First Presbyterian Church. Interment will be a private ceremony at the National Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Foundation, 615 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403, or First Presbyterian Church World Missions, 554 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403. Barker, known as “Mickey” to his friends, died Monday at the age of 81. Read more about his life from Chattanoogan.com.

Former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William Muecke Barker died Monday morning at the age of 81. Barker, from Chattanooga, spent 25 years on the judicial bench and 10 as a justice on the state Supreme Court. His experience included service with the Deetsen Firm, as circuit court judge in Hamilton County and on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. He was named to the Supreme Court in 1998 and retired in 2008. He then joined the Chambliss Law Firm, where he served until fully retiring in 2021. Barker is a former president of the Chattanooga Trial Lawyers Association and is a fellow of both the Chattanooga Bar Foundation and the Tennessee Bar Foundation. The Administrative Office of the Courts has more on his life. Funeral details are pending.

Franklin lawyer and TBA Senior Counselor Frank Calvin Ingraham died March 20. A 1954 graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, Ingraham built a litigation practice representing individuals and corporation and was also a founding member of the American Trial Lawyers Foundation. He retired from the practice of law in 2014. Visitation will be held April 15 at 10 a.m., followed by a celebration of life at 11 a.m. CDT. A time of fellowship will be held after the service. All events will take place at the Church of The City, 828 Murfreesboro Rd., Franklin 37064. A private burial will be held at his longtime residence, Tap Root Farm. Donations may be made to the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home or The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

James S. Tipton Jr., 74, died on March 20. A Knoxville native, Tipton was a graduate of the University of Tennessee and Duke University College of Law, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif. He practiced with Gentry Tipton & McLemore and was a member of the Knoxville, Tennessee and American Bar Associations. Active in the community, Tipton served for years as director and/or attorney for various non-profit charitable organizations, including Oak Home, YOKE, YMCA of Metropolitan Knoxville, Ethel Brickey Hicks Charitable Corporation, Bleak House Historical Library, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and various local churches. Visitation is Friday from 4-8 p.m. EDT at Berry Funeral Home, 3704 Chapman Highway, Knoxville 37920. A funeral service will take place Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT at New Hopewell Baptist Church, 943 Kimberlin Heights Rd, Knoxville 37920, with a graveside service immediately following.

Memorial service arrangements for 21st District Attorney General Kim Helper will be held this weekend. The family will receive friends from 4–8 p.m. CDT on Saturday at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home, 3009 Columbia Ave., Franklin 37064. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. CDT on Sunday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 510 West Main St., Franklin 37064. Helper died Monday following a brief illness.

John Hughes Henderson Jr. died March 16 in Franklin. He was 87. Henderson received his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1961, and as a third generation lawyer, practiced law in Tennessee for 45 years, the last 17 as district public defender for the 21st Judicial District covering Hickman, Lewis, Perry and Williamson counties. In addition, he served in a number of leadership positions in the profession, including time on the TBA Board of Governors. Henderson was admitted to practice law in both Tennessee and Mississippi and retired in 2006. A memorial service will be held on March 30 at 3 p.m. CDT at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 510 W. Main St., in Franklin. Visitation and reception will be in Otey Hall at the church following the memorial service. Burial will be in a columbarium at the church. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church’s historical committee or a charity of your choice. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.crawfordservices.com.

After a sudden and brief illness, 21st District Attorney General Kim Helper died Monday surrounded by family. She was 63. Helper and her family moved to Franklin 25 years ago and she was appointed district attorney general in 2008 after serving in the attorney general's office and as an assistant district attorney. She was re-elected three times, most recently in August 2022.

Helper has served as the District Attorney General's Conference designee on the TBA Board of Governors for several years and held a number of leadership positions in community and professional organizations, including My Friend's House, the Davis House Child Advocacy Center and Williamson County CASA, among others. She was a graduate of Stetson University College of Law. Arrangements are pending at this time. The Tennessean has more on her passing.

The Tennessean reports that former longtime courthouse reporter William Kirk Loggins died Thursday morning from post-stroke dementia at a memory care facility. He was 76. A lifelong Middle Tennessee journalist, Loggins covered Nashville's courts for The Tennessean for 26 years starting in 1976 before he retired in 2002. "A good day at the courthouse," Loggins told a Lipscomb University interviewer in 2012, "was like going to the movies." Among hundreds of criminal trials, Loggins covered 15 death penalty cases and witnessed the first Tennessee execution in 40 years in April 2000.

Memphis lawyer William Rowlett Scott died March 5 after a long illness. He was 86. Scott earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Yale College and a law degree in 1961 from Yale Law School. He joined the Army Reserves after law school and was discharged seven years later as a captain in the Judge Advocate General Corps. He simultaneously served as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Bailey Brown Jr. and as an attorney at Armstrong Allen. He later made partner and was named a member of the firm’s management committee. In 2006, Scott joined Burch, Porter Johnson and worked there until his retirement in 2020. He focused his practice throughout the years on real estate and bankruptcy matters. A memorial service will be held Tuesday at 2 p.m. CDT in the Sisters Chapel at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, 700 Poplar Ave., Memphis. A reception will follow in Martyrs' Hall. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral or the Tennessee Nature Conservancy.