The Tennessee Supreme Court recently rejected the Board of Professional Responsibility’s recommendation for discipline in the case of Shelby County lawyer Larry E. Fitzgerald. The court said it had concerns that the proposed punishment, particularly the period of active suspension, was too lenient. It rejected Fitzgerald’s conditional guilty plea and referred the matter to the board for further proceedings. Fitzgerald had entered a conditional guilty plea on Oct. 18, 2023, in response to a petition for discipline filed on Dec. 12, 2022.

Fayette County lawyer Lundy Lee Carpenter was reinstated to the practice of law on March 1, effective as of Jan. 31. Carpenter had been placed on inactive status on March 9, 2017. The Board of Professional Responsibility reported that the petition for reinstatement was satisfactory.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Feb. 21 dismissed a petition from Williamson County lawyer Connie Lynn Reguli to dissolve a temporary suspension that had been imposed on Nov. 20, 2023, after the court found that Reguli posed a threat of substantial harm to the public. On Nov. 28, Reguli filed a petition seeking “immediate relief of reversal” of the suspension or, alternatively, an evidentiary hearing. On Nov. 30, the court granted the request for a hearing but dismissed the petition for reversal. On Jan. 23, Reguli filed a proposed order of voluntary nonsuit. The Board of Professional Responsibility objected to the proposed order and recommended the court dismiss the dissolution petition without prejudice. The court adopted the board’s recommendation.

Putnam County lawyer Michael Robert Giaimo received a censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court on Feb. 22. The court found that after Giaimo filed lawsuits on behalf of a client, he failed to communicate with the client for more than a year, inform the client that he moved to a different firm, properly serve process on a defendant and correct that mistake before the statute of limitations ran on the claim. His actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.16 and 3.2.

Three opinions in today's issue of TBA Today are corrected versions of opinions that ran earlier this week and last week. A correction in the case of Jimmiko Driskell v. State of Tennessee, issued by the Court of Criminal Appeals on Feb. 29, included the wrong case summary in that day's issue of TBA Today. An opinion from the Court of Criminal Appeals in the case of State of Tennessee v. Matthew Smith ran in the wrong section of the Feb. 29 issue of TBA Today. And, an opinion from the Tennessee Supreme Court on March 7 in the case of State of Tennessee v. Tony Thomas and Laronda Turner omitted an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part by Justice Sharon Lee. The court also today issued a corrected version of an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part to that case by Justice Sarah Campbell.

The TBA Women in the Profession Committee will host a free webcast on March 21 on the topic “The Nuts & Bolts of TLAP: Who We Are, Who We Help and How We Do It.” The event will feature Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) clinical staff Erin Lynch and Lauren Castor, who will discuss how the program can be a valuable resource to women attorneys. The event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CDT. Registration is required. One hour of dual CLE credit will is available to attorneys who certify attendance for and watch this webinar live.

Over the past week, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined with fellow state attorneys general to urge action at the federal level. Efforts included an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold citizens’ constitutional rights to make laws through their elected officials rather than laws being made through administrative actions; and a letter calling on three federal entities to respond to an inspector general report that tens of thousands of unaccompanied migrant children were released into unsafe situations, including human trafficking operations. Skrmetti’s office also published a reminder of the free IRS-approved tax filing options available for Tennesseans.

Today is International Women’s Day and American Bar Association (ABA) President Mary Smith is honoring the women who make up more than 50% of law firm associates and the majority of U.S. law school students. In a statement released today, she notes that this year’s theme, “Inspire Inclusion,” serves as a powerful reminder of the ongoing journey to ensure women’s full and equal participation in every sector, including the legal field. However, Smith says there is work still to be done, citing data that women remain significantly underrepresented in senior leadership positions at U.S. law firms. Read more about the ABA's efforts to advance the status of women and girls at home and abroad. On March 1, Smith issued this statement in support of Women's History Month.

The legal services sector added 2,700 jobs in February, resuming an upward trajectory after dipping slightly in January, Reuters reports. The count includes a range of legal workers, including paralegals and assistants, though the majority are lawyers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the broader economy, job growth accelerated last month, but downward revisions to employment gains in the prior two months and an increase in the unemployment rate to a two-year high of 3.9% suggest that the labor market is slowing.

Make plans now to log in for a May 2 webcast produced by the TBA Tax Law Section to learn more about the state's franchise and excise tax. Join Nashville lawyer Jeffrey Foster with the Tennessee Department of Revenue for this one-hour program beginning at noon CDT and offering one hour of general CLE credit.