The Tennessee Bar Association has met at least once a year since its beginnings nearly 135 years ago, when lawyers first gathered at Bon Aqua, Tennessee, to tend to the organization’s business, learn updates in the law, and to socialize. When the Journal started publication in 1965 it began documenting these meetings every year, a tradition continued today. In the August 1965 issue, when the first photos of the June meetings appeared, there was no substantive coverage but by 1968 the TBA’s constitution, bylaws and committee reports were printed: the Special Joint Committee on Court Modernization by Frank Bratton; the Special Committee on Economics of Law Practice by Cornelius Breedlove; the American Citizenship and Law Day Committee by Harry S. Lester; Committee on CLE by Dan E. McGugin; Criminal Law Committee by Harris A. Gilbert; Domestic Relations Committee, by Jack Norman Jr.; the General Sessions Court Committee by James C. Havron; the Interprofessional Code Committee by Joe W. Henry Jr.; the Committee on CLE and Admission to the Bar by Miller Manier; the Membership Committee by Charles H. Warfield; the Committee on Professional Ethics and Grievances by O.B. Hoffstetter?Jr.; and the Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law by Walter M. Robinson Jr.

The Interprofessional Code Committee reported that the TBA?Board adopted a code in McMinnville on Jan. 20, 1968. The Tennessee Medical Society considered the matter in April 1968, where an objection was raised (which was “more semantic than significant”), but “after days of discussion and debate [the two groups] reached an accord.”

In 1970 the minutes of the business meeting were also included — weighing in at 29 Journal pages. That’s right — twenty-nine. An Editor’s Note, however, says that “the Board of Governors has voted to henceforth carry a synopsis of the TBA Annual Convention Business Sessions in the August Issue of the Tennessee Bar Journals. Complete stenographic reports ... will be maintained herafter at the Tennessee Bar Headquarters, but will not be published in their entirety.” [Note from current editor: Thank you.]

In President J.D. Senter Jr.’s report from that meeting at the Sheraton-Peabody Hotel in Memphis, he outlines the work of the committees, sections and the Board of Governors. Of that body he wrote They are not timid people; they speak their convictions; but even after sometimes extended sessions and debates of controversial matters, we have never adjourned a meeting except in an atmosphere of cordiality and good will.

The report of the formation of the TBA’s General Practice Section the year before, was given by John Thomason of Memphis.

In August 1975, the synopsis of the minutes (running 25 pages, so not much much shorter than the actual minutes) of the 94th Annual Convention, held in Gatlinburg, covered every bit of the business and the fun, too. F. Graham Bartlett of Knoxville, in the president’s report, thanked volunteers and staff and reported on his visits to six other state bar meetings and the Bridge-the-Gap program where he introduced 250 new lawyers to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court Clerk Ramsey Leathers issued their licenses to them after they were sworn-in. On Labor Day 1974, Bartlett writes, “the all-new Democratic Supreme Court was sworn in by Gov. Winfield Dunn,” in the House Chambers of the Capitol.

The synopsis continues with accounts of each of the mid-winter meetings (they used to meet in three locations across the state; this year it was Jackson, Columbia and Chattanooga), committees, legislative program (none of the proposed legislative programs were passed, but, he writes, “there is always another year”), memorials, House of Delegates’ report, and a run-down of the annual chartered trip, that year to Switzerland. The TBA chartered a TWA plane, taking 165 persons. The “cost [was] completely paid for by those making the trip; there was no expense to the Association.”

In President John B. Waters’s 1984 report, he said that the management, publications and CLE of the associaton had improved. It was the first year that there had been CLE offered in any place other than the majors cities, which he said “worked very well.” A good CLE program is one of the most important things our members expect us to do and if we can put on good CLE programs, we have done a service to the Bar and service to the public.” At that time, earning CLE was not required but shortly after Waters’s address, in 1986, it became mandatory in Tennessee. At that time of course they were all in person, but today the TBA offers more than 300 online videos, game and interactive courses, in addition to about 100 live programs each year. Section and committee reports continuted to be reproduced through that decade, but by the 1990s the Journal had adopted a news feature style with more convention photos and fewer reports. In 1997 the TBA went to Destin, Florida, for convention — and members could even register “on-line!” It was so new there were instructions on how to type the site address into the web browser to find it. The program featured 30 CLE speakers, with 15 hours of credit available.

When Albert C. Harvey became president in 2002 the Journal reported his plans announced at convention: “continuation of on-site and on-line CLE, encouragement of the mock trial program, support for the SCALES project and helping law firms work toward justice for all citizens through the TBA’s Access to Justice Committee.” Harvey also championied the TBA’s website, then called TBALink, which recently had been made free for all members. Before that, there was an extra charge to access court opinions on the site.

This year’s convention is very soon after you get this magazine — June 17-20 in Memphis and it’s not too late to attend. You can learn more and register “on-line,” at https://www.tba.org/node/72872. Look for coverage in an upcoming issue.

Suzanne Craig Robertson has been editor of the Tennessee Bar Journal for 27 of its 50 years.