In January 2024, Nashville attorney David Cooper decided to hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Well, more accurately, his son Sam offhandedly announced that he would be hiking the AT (as it’s commonly known) in 2025 and David asked if he could come along. Enjoy this conversation between David and Tennessee Bar Journal Editor Julia Canada Wilburn about the trip of a lifetime and what it really means to make space for your own well-being and mental health.

Marshall County, population 34,318 according to the 2020 census, sits about an hour south of Nashville. The county seat is the charming small town of Lewisburg, which has some big ideas on addressing the rural mental health crisis. In 2024, District Attorney General Robert Carter and General Sessions Judge Lee Bussart collaborated with the Marshall County Recovery Foundation to create the SHIELD (Supportive Help for Individuals Experiencing Life-Threatening Distress) Program. Judge Bussart and Jillian McGauley, a 2L at Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law and Judge Bussart's Rural Judicial Fellow, explain how the SHIELD Program works and how it is impacting lives in Marshall County.

In this installment of President's Perspective, TBA President Heidi Barcus reminds readers of the importance of self care, even when it feels less than appealing.

Employers often face the tension between giving honest feedback about former employees and the risk of defamation or tort liability if a former employee claims a reference was malicious, false or misleading. In The Law at Work, Edward Phillips and Brandon Morrow explain how understanding the scope, strengths and limitations of Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-105 is essential for any lawyer counseling Tennessee employers on reference disclosures and risk management.

In this installment of Day on Torts, John Day breaks down how tax policy can impact personal injury and wrongful death settlements and judgments, and why tort lawyers need to understand the ins and outs of income taxes.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently reaffirmed in Boatman v. Odziana that a trial court may order equal (50/50) parenting time, that trial courts must include provisions for holiday parenting time in residential parenting schedules, and that bans on a parent’s ability to obtain passports and travel internationally with minor children cannot be ordered absent a finding of “a credible risk of abduction” pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-6-604 (a). Marlene Eskind Moses and Ansley Owens Tillett explain in the Family Matters column.

Lawyers around the country have long looked to Alaska, Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota as the best jurisdictions in which to establish trusts because of those states’ favorable trust law. As Tennessee has modified its trust law over the last two decades to embrace many desirable features, professionals in other states have begun to take notice. Eddy Smith explains in Where There's a Will.

This issue's Closing Statements features answers to the question "What ways have you found to mentor other lawyers and why is it important for you to do so?

The first installment of The Legal Life in 2026 features several updates from the TBA, including an announcement of the 23rd Leadership Law class, the YLD's 2026 Diversity Leadership Institute cohort, award winning TBA programs and more!

The Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) has launched a new, statewide portal for volunteer opportunities in partnership with Paladin, a leading pro bono management platform. Learn how the portal works and how attorneys across the state can make a difference.

Tennessee Bar Association members who have died recently are memorialized.

Read about the lawyers who have recently been reinstated, disbarred, suspended, censured or transferred their licenses to disability inactive status.