TBA members will begin voting March 1 for candidates who have qualified to run for vice president of the Tennessee Bar Association. Nashville attorney Ed Lanquist and Franklin attorney David Veile are the two candidates in the race. The winner will ascend to the office of TBA president in 2024. Three attorneys are competing to win the two Middle Grand Division Governor positions: Mary Dohner-Smith, Nashville; Zachary Jones, Fayetteville; and Billy Leslie, Nashville. See a list of all other candidates who have been certified as elected because they did not draw opposition, as well as the information on a board vacancy that will be filled by a board appointment. Additional information on voting, including candidate profiles, will be distributed in advance of the voting period, which runs through April 1.

Tennessee legal groups were honored last month with the 2022 Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access for their work in producing Virtual Debt Relief Clinics. The award, given by the ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services, was presented virtually at the ABA Mid-Year Meeting. The review committee said the clinic was selected for its focus on increasing legal services to those of modest means and for its innovative use of technology. Since launching the initiative in 2020, the groups have held four clinics in the Eastern Division of the state. Participants include the TBA Young Lawyers Division, Knoxville Bar Association, Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services and the Tennessee Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Suzanne Bauknight attended each clinic to provide an overview of Chapter 7 bankruptcy procedure. Volunteer attorneys were then paired with clients to provide personalized advice in private Zoom breakout rooms. With the success of the initial clinics, the groups plan to expand the service statewide this spring.

Murfreesboro attorney Wayne Irvin has announced his candidacy for Rutherford County Commission District 14, the Murfreesboro Post reports. He maintains a law and accounting practice that focuses on tax, transactions and estate planning. He previously served as a senior assistant attorney general in the office of the Tennessee Attorney General focused on utility rate cases. He is active in the Federalist Society and the Rutherford and Cannon County Bar Association. Irvin says he will focus on increasing transparency in local government, supporting economic and workforce development, and working to improve infrastructure in the county.

Natasha Brooks, who runs The Brooks Academy — a Christian educational consulting firm for homeschool families — has entered the Republican primary for the recently redrawn Fifth Congressional District. She recently sat down with the Tennessee Star to talk about her experience and goals for office. Before incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper announced he would not run for reelection, Brooks was actively campaigning against him. Brooks says her focus will be on improving education, increasing awareness about mental health issues, supporting trade schools, increasing funding for adoption and foster care services and supporting the trucking and mining industries. Learn more about her campaign.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today issued an order rescinding requirements for distancing between persons in courtrooms. The order takes effective immediately and applies statewide to all courts and court clerks’ offices, except administrative courts within the Executive Branch and federal courts and court clerks’ offices.

Retired Columbia lawyer Thomas Edward Lawwell died Feb. 12 at the age of 87. Funeral services were held today. Lawwell graduated from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1961 and began a legal career in Columbia that spanned 50 years. He first worked at Shelton and Shelton, where he focused on real estate law and representing the phosphate industry. In the 1970s, he served as judge for the city of Columbia and attorney for the Columbia Power and Water System. In 1985, he established a partnership that eventually became Lawwell, Dale & Graham and established the Maury County Title Company with his law partners. During his later years, Lawwell represented the Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. Lawwell was a past president of the Maury County Bar Association, chair of the Tennessee Bar Foundation and member of a number of TBA committees.

Succession occurs when an attorney or firm sells, quits, transfer assets, winds down or when an expected or unexpected death occurs. TBA’s Practice Management Center has expanded resources in the Winding Down A Firm section offering a new tutorial video and a new 48-page handbook thanks to Nashville area lawyer and TBA member Timothy “Tim” Takacs of Takacs McGinnis Elder Care Law. The handbook includes sample language and forms, a planning toolkit and a sample office policy manual for your practice.

Martin Trimiew, assistant vice president and legal counsel at Unum Insurance in Chattanooga, co-hosts this month’s episode of the TBA BarBuzz podcast. In addition to legal news and bar association events, Trimew discusses his efforts to help revive Chattanooga’s S.L. Hutchins Bar Association — a voluntary association founded to help address issues, interests and concerns of African-American and other attorneys of color in the Greater Chattanooga area. The S.L. Hutchins bar was established in the late 1980s by prominent Chattanooga attorneys Judge Walter Williams, Rheubin Taylor, Judge Curtis Collier, Ardena Garth and John McClarty. It is actively seeking financial sponsorship and corporate allyship from law firms and corporations to aid in its revitalization and to continue its traditions. To help in its mission or to get involved, email Martin Trimiew. BarBuzz is part of the TBA Podcast Network and can be found on the TBA’s website or anywhere you listen to podcasts.  

The National Bar Association is planning a commemorative trip to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, so members can retrace the steps of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Congressman John Lewis as well as other “greats” who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge and lit the spark that led to enactment of the Civil Rights Act. The trip will leave from Atlanta on March 4 and return on March 6. Activities will include a tour of King’s parsonage home, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where he pastored, the Lynching Memorial and Legacy Museum. Registration includes transportation and tours. Hotel rooms should be booked separately by Feb. 26. Also on March 4, the NBA will hold its 57th Selma Jubilee Fred Grey Award Dinner in Atlanta. Learn more or register for any of these events.

A bipartisan group of state legislators is pushing legislation to make June 19, also known as Juneteenth, a state holiday, WATE reports. The day was recently made a federal holiday and the effort is supported by Gov. Bill Lee. June 19 celebrates the day when slaves in Galveston, Texas, were finally freed – two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. Sponsors of the bill say a state holiday will educate generations of Tennesseans about the history of the quest for true freedom for Black Americans.