A lot of information is stacked around me — on the floor, on my desk, in the window sill. There are old Tennessee Bar Journals bound in hardcover, navy blue books, black & white photos in crinkley file folders and the yellowing pages of Tennessee Lawyer, a newsletter that predated the Journal, heralding the new magazine’s coming in its January 1965 issue. Pulling out the high points of 40 years of publishing is daunting and I’m about to decide it’s not possible, glancing one more time at the calendar as the drop-dead deadline inches closer.

The fact is, I love all these Journal pages and am proud to oversee its production into its 41st year, my 18th. To relay the Journal’s first 22 years, I’ll rely on the archives. For 1987 through 2004, I can nearly do it from heart.

I want you to see it all: the early Caribbean cruises offered by the TBA where men wore suits and ties on deck and their wives were only known as Mrs. Somebody Else; the Economic Survey of 1966 where it was reported that Tennessee lawyers’ median income was $16,000; my sweet Golden Retriever who posed for a cover story called “There’s no such thing as a free bite,” which generated letters in defense of a breed that of course would never bite anyone anyway; and pictures of many of you senior lawyers when you were young lawyers, right out of school.

When Wisconsin Lawyer celebrated 75 years of publication recently, freelance writer Dianne Molvig commented to editor Joyce Hastings that “it could easily turn into one of those family vacation slide shows people put on for their friends. Showing slide after slide, treasuring every moment, the folks in the audience are nodding off.” Taking that advice, you’ll be spared the minute details of the cabinetry used in the association’s former office space, but forgive me if I go on a bit about the dramatic changes in the printing industry during this time and how it has made production quicker and cheaper, and our turnaround time much shorter. (I’ll skip it this time, but believe me, the changes are huge.)

During 2005, the Journal will have a column every month highlighting different aspects of the bar world the Journal has presided over in its four decades. We’ll cover advocacy, changes in the Young Lawyers Division, convention coverage, the changing role of women and minorities, the advent of mandatory continuing legal education and more. Don’t nod off yet, there are only 187 more slides to go …

Modest Beginnings

“As issues of the Journal follow, we hope to improve it, to give you better service and more interesting articles,” TBA President Olin White declared in his President’s Report in February 1965, the first issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal. “The Tennessee Bar Association’s objective is not only to serve its members and the lawyers of Tennessee, but to work for the benefit of all the citizens of this state, to the end that their rights are fully protected and that there be a just and orderly determination of their claims and disputes.”

Those are pretty tall orders. Has the Journal done this?

Robert Kirk Walker of Chattanooga was TBA president-elect when the Journal was conceived.

“At the time, I knew it would be a good communicative tool and am impressed that the Tennessee Bar Journal has come into its own,” Walker says. At 79, he is of counsel at the law firm of Chambliss, Bahner and Stophel.

Being instrumental in the magazine’s beginnings makes him proud, he says, especially that it has been “embraced, refined and improved upon” by TBA staff and contributors over the years.

“We felt that the Tennessee Lawyer was an inadequate publication for us,” Walker says. “The Journal provides an opportunity for lawyers who are experts in certain fields to share their expertise with others.”

The Board of Governors had voted to start a new publication in November 1964, on recommendation of the Publications Committee, the purpose of which would be “to bring to the lawyers of Tennessee articles and studies of value in their legal practice and their improvement of the profession.” The committee’s chair that year was W. Ovid Collins Jr., of Nashville.

Collins still practices law a few days a week with Cornelius & Collins LLP in Nashville, and at 86 still reads the Journal every month. “

I’m glad we got it done,” he says of the work to start the new publication.

“It was very modest at the beginning,” it tremendously.”

The Journal was to complement the quarterly newsletter called Tennessee Lawyer, which the TBA began publishing in 1952. For 20 years the two publications dovetailed until Tennessee Lawyer ceased publication in 1985. With the January/February 1986 issue, the Journal went bi-monthly, incorporating the news and association information that had previously been in the Lawyer.

In 1999 the Journal doubled its output, going to a monthly schedule. Although some people involved in the process were afraid there would not be enough information to fill that many pages, that has proved incorrect. Turns out, there’s plenty of information lawyers need to hear and it started pouring in. The Journal’s leap to monthly was the idea of TBA Executive Director Allan F. Ramsaur, who had been at the TBA only a few months at the time.

“The Journal is easily the most visible, tangible asset of the TBA,” Ramsaur says. “My goals in recommending that we publish monthly were to expand the services to our members, to communicate more timely and effectively and to enhance the value of that asset. Once we convinced the leadership that the money was there, they leaped at the chance to provide the Journal every month.”

A Little Help From its Friends

Other forms of communication have supplemented the Journal through the years, too. After Tennessee Lawyer, the TBA began another quarterly newsletter called Across the Bar, which ran in the early 1990s. In 1995, the weekly newsletter LeaderFlash began and soon adapted to technological advances by turning into an email newsletter as well. In 1995 its new best friend, TBALink, was born. TBALink is the TBA’s web site, which back when it started was the first of its kind. The Journal frequently refers to its electronic pages for more indepth information, an option to disseminate even more information to readers. The Journal is also now available electronically. In 1998 the Journal began carrying a full continuing legal education schedule in its center.

They Keep You Updated

In addition to the many writers who have contributed, a handful of faithful have written and written and written. Standing columns have always been a part of the Journal, beginning with “Practicing Your Profession,” by Billie Bethel (see page 20), and there has always been a column by the president. “Avoiding Legal Malpractice Claims” by Duke Nordlinger Stern ran from 1985- 88. The still-popular “Paine on Procedure” by Donald F. Paine began in 1989. Well-read humor columnist Bill Haltom starting slinging funny arrows in the summer of 1993 with “But, Seriously, Folks!” and we’re laughing too hard to get him to stop. In 1992, Chancellor Robert Brandt began writing “From the Bench,” which Judge R. Vann Owens took up when he became president of the Tennessee Judicial Conference. In 1999, four columns began rotating: “Employment Law” by Tim Bland, “Day on Torts” by John Day, “Where There’s a Will” by Dan Holbrook, and “Criminal Law” by David Raybin. In 2003 we added the cartoon “Jest Is For All,” by Arnie Glick.

Our Driving Force

So important to the consistency of the Journal are two groups of people, the Editorial Board and the staff. The Editorial Board — chair Andrée Sophia Blumstein, Miles Mason Sr., Donald F. Paine, Nathan D. Rowell and Jonathan O. Steen — give a huge amount of time reviewing articles and having great ideas. We will feature them more fully in a subsequent issue.

Staff members whose jobs keep the Journal humming are Assistant Executive Director Barry Kolar, Production Coordinator Landry Butler and me, the editor. Stacey Shrader compiles and writes the disciplinary actions and the Bulletin Board section, with Sharon Ballinger wading through press releases checking information for Bulletin Board.

A handful of other people have poured their hearts into this magazine over the years — more in recent years because almost all production is now done in-house. When the Journal began, and even up through about 1989, typesetting, photo scanning and layout were all done by outside vendors. Now, except for the printing and some proofreading, it’s all done by employees. Journal alumnae include Gary Hunt, Mary Tucker, Julie Warner Swearingen, Gina Jones, David Duke and Kate Jankowski.

Award-Winning? You Bet

The Journal has been recognized by its peers twice with a Luminary Award from the National Association of Bar Executives for excellence in publications for mid-sized bars. Before that, it won awards from the Nashville Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators for color photography, writing and editorials. The Tennessee Society of Association Executives awarded the Journal its Excellence Award for magazines and journals in 1994 and 2000.

Come See For Yourself

The Journal has been the voice of the legal profession, a reflection of the times and circumstances surrounding the law in Tennessee, since 1965. As you can see, we are proud of the contribution and look forward to many more years of providing this legal mirror.

It’s possible this is starting to sound like that family vacation slide show, so we’ll leave it at this. But if you have a deeper interest, I invite you to come to the Tennessee Bar Center in Nashville and read through the old navy blue hard-bound treasures yourself.

Suzanne Craig Robertson is editor of the Tennessee Bar Journal. The stacks of old publications on her desk will be back on the bookshelf by the time you come by to look at them. TBA Membership Coordinator Megan Rizzo contributed to this story.