Germantown attorney James “Jim” Barry will serve as president of the Tennessee Bar Association in 2023-2024, according to election-qualifying results released today. No other candidate filed for the vice president position by the Feb. 15 deadline. After taking office as vice president this summer, the retired International Paper attorney will become president-elect in 2022-2023 and then take over the organization’s leadership in June 2023.

In addition, there will be one contested election this spring. J. Spencer Fair with the law offices of London and Amburn in Knoxville and Glenn Walter with Lewis Thomason in Knoxville, are both vying for the District 6 seat in the TBA House of Delegates. Several vacancies in the House will be filled through appointment. See a list of all other candidates who have been certified as elected because they did not draw opposition as well as the vacancies needing to be filled.

The TBA’s 2021 Business Law Forum is set for May 20 and 21. This year’s program will focus on valuation considerations for the Tennessee business lawyer with sessions from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. CDT each day. Produced by Ward Nelson with Miller & Martin in Chattanooga, speakers include Michael Collins with Expert of Counsel in Nashville; Paul Davidson with Waller in Nashville; Joan Heminway with the University of Tennessee College of Law; and Glenn Perdue with Kraft Analytics in Nashville. Watch for registration information coming soon.

How can lawyers honor Black History Month with action? The ABA Journal gives examples during this time "of sharpened focus on institutional racism, the Black Lives Matter movement and a raging pandemic that has disproportionately impacted minority communities." Lauren Stiller Rikleen writes, "These are the questions we must address: Will the legal profession answer this call at this moment? As we move through this unprecedented and historic time, will all corners of the profession—including law firms and bar associations—use their unique powers to preserve our democracy, protect every person’s right to vote safely and easily, and ensure our workplaces eliminate systemic bias? Or will we let the moment pass through our grasp?"

The Tennessee State High School Mock Trial competition got underway this week with regional competitions continuing through the weekend. More than 600 students and 200 volunteers are taking part in the competition, with Grand Division champions being crowned Sunday afternoon. The top finishers from each Grand Division will advance to the TBA YLD’s State Championship round next month. This year’s preliminary and championship competitions are all being carried out virtually.

The University of Tennessee College of Law on Thursday recognized students, staff, faculty and recent graduates for their scholarship, service and overall excellence. During a virtual awards ceremony, Interim Dean Doug Blaze acknowledged Professors Teri Baxter, Alex Long, Paula Schaefer and Scott Childs, as well as staff members Chris Bombardo and Teresa Peterson for their extraordinary leadership and service while working through the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of students were also recognized for their academic achievement.

Former Knox County Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones is running to retake his old post, Knox News reports. Jones will be pitted against current Sheriff Tom Spangler in the Republican primary, scheduled for May 3, 2022. Jones filled the position from 2010 until 2018, when he was term-limited.

Legendary Georgia attorney Bobby Lee Cook died today at his Lookout Mountain home. He was 94. In his storied career, Cook represented moonshiners, money launderers, bootleggers and bank fraud schemers, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. The 1980s television show “Matlock,” starring Andy Griffith, was reportedly based on Cook’s practice, and his defense of Savannah socialite Jim Williams was the inspiration for the true-crime classic “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” He was a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School.

The population of inmates serving a life sentence in Tennessee prisons has grown by 87% since 1970, according to a new survey by the Washington, D.C., nonprofit The Sentencing Project. That growth, the Tennessean reports, is straining the state’s prisons and budget. The report also found that more than half of those serving life sentences are Black, disproportionately harming the minority community. Nashville defense attorney David Raybin said the life sentences in Tennessee are also especially harsh following passage of a 1995 law that required people to serve at least 51 years before they could be paroled. “There’s no opportunity for redemption, there’s no opportunity for rehabilitation," Raybin said. “You’re never gonna get out."

Longtime Nashville attorney Robert “Bobby” Jackson Jr. died Monday after a brief hospitalization. He was 79. Jackson graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1965 as one of the first to complete an undergraduate and law degree in six years. He began his career with his father, Eugene D. Jackson Jr., in the Nashville firm of Jackson, Tanner and Reynolds. He later joined his son, Robert Todd Jackson, to form Jackson and Associates. Considered by some as the dean of the domestic bar in Nashville, Jackson mediated more than 2,000 divorce cases during his more than 50-year career. His family includes seven consecutive generations of lawyers. Memorials may be made to Centennial Heart, H.A.R.T. Inc. or Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Department of Cardiac Surgery.

TBA members are, of course, lawyers, but they’re SO much more than that. To highlight the ways in which our members shine in both their personal and professional lives, TBA President Michelle Greenway Sellers has launched a Member Spotlight Series— a collection of conversations between Michelle and members from across the state. These conversations cover more than just law and really delve into topics of interests that Tennessee lawyers hold dear. First up on Member Spotlight is former Memphis Area Legal Services Executive Director Harrison McIver, who chats with Michelle about growing up in small-town Georgia during the '50s and '60s, his Civil Rights icons, how the bar can champion diversity and more.