TBA Members Give Strong Support to Justices

Nine out of 10 lawyers recommend that Tennesseans vote to “retain” the three Tennessee Supreme Court Justices on the Aug. 4 ballot. The data is the result of a Tennessee Bar Association (TBA) Candidate Evaluation Poll conducted during four weeks in May and June.

The TBA asked its members to indicate whether they highly recommended, recommended, did not recommend or had no informed opinion on the issue as of the date that they responded to the survey, with respect to the retention election of Justices Jeffrey S. Bivins, Holly Kirby and Roger A. Page.

The votes of those with an opinion were:

• Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins: 68.2% Highly Recommend, 26.0% Recommend, 5.8% Do Not Recommend.
• Justice Holly Kirby: 67.8% Highly Recommend, 24.5% Recommend, 7.7% Do Not Recommend.
• Justice Roger A. Page: 64.1% Highly Recommend, 29.8% Recommend, 6.1% Do Not Recommend.

“Lawyers are uniquely qualified to provide an informed opinion as to whether a justice should be retained in office,” outgoing TBA President Bill Harbison of Nashville said in announcing the results. “For that reason, it is important that they share this knowledge with voters who will be going to the polls in August.”

“We think this good turnout means that the results are a fair reflection of the sentiment of TBA members,” TBA Executive Director Allan F. Ramsaur said. The membership is made up of some 13,000 members from all facets of law practice and represents more than 70 percent of the lawyers in Tennessee.

“We want to help the voting public make an informed decision in these retention elections by compiling the views of Tennessee lawyers and presenting them broadly,” incoming TBA President Jason Long said.

The poll is part of a broad effort to ensure a fair, impartial and accountable judicial election. The TBA conducts the Tennessee Fair Judicial Campaign Code of Conduct and, through its Policy on Unjust Criticism of Judges, responds to unjust criticism of judges and judicial candidates when they are unable to do so because of judicial ethics constraints. Information on all of these efforts is available on the TBA Judicial Selection Information Center at www.tba.org/info/ 2016-tennessee-judicial-election-information-center.

COURTS

AOC Seeks Contract Attorneys for Indigent Representation 
The Administrative Office of the Courts is seeking attorneys who are interested in contracting with the AOC for judicial hospitalization services in the General Sessions Courts in Blount, Davidson, Hamilton, Hardeman and Wilson counties. Attorneys will represent indigent respondents facing involuntary emergency judicial hospitalization. The contract arrangement establishes compensation based on dockets. Applications by county and more information are available at tncourts.gov.

PATENTS

New Patent Applicants Program Seeks Legal Volunteers  
The Tennessee Bar Association is starting the Legal Assistance Volunteers for Patent Applicants (LAVPA), a pro bono program that will match individual inventors and small businesses with patent attorneys to assist inventors in obtaining a patent for their inventions. There are several ways attorneys and law firms can assist with the program. Those interested in supporting the program may contact LAVPA Coordinator J. Scott “Skip” Rudsenske at (615) 277-3207. Read more about LAVPA on the TBA website.

LAW SCHOOLS

Belmont Law Receives Full ABA Accreditation
Belmont University College of Law was granted full American Bar Association accreditation on June 4. The school enrolled its first class in Fall 2011.

Man Granted Clemency With Help of UT Law Students  
University of Tennessee College of Law students and faculty successfully gained clemency for Emlera Quince, a man sentenced to 25 years in prison for cocaine charges. The 55-year-old was represented through the college’s Federal Clemency Clinic, which ultimately submitted a 147-page clemency petition on Quince’s behalf. President Obama made the decision to commute Quince’s sentence on June 3.

JUDICIAL

Judicial Candidates Sign Campaign Code for August Election 
As of early June, nearly one-third of all Tennessee judicial candidates facing voters in August have already signed the Tennessee Fair Judicial Campaign Code of Conduct. Candidates can still sign the code, a copy of which is available through the Tennessee Judicial Election Information Center. The code was first enacted by the Tennessee Bar Association in 2006 as a means to help preserve public faith in the integrity of the justice system. It has been signed by several hundred judicial candidates in elections since then.

Report: 10% of Federal Judgeships Are Vacant  
Nearly 10 percent of federal judgeships are vacant, according to the Washington Post. The number of unfilled judgeships is nearly twice as high as the number of vacancies at this point of President George W. Bush’s presidency. But the report notes that while some judges and lawmakers believe the situation is a “judicial emergency,” a spokeswoman for the Judiciary Committee chairman called it a “made-up crisis.” 

LAW FIRMS

Firms Still Struggle to Promote Women
Women lawyers work longer hours but bill fewer hours than male lawyers and earn less money than men, according to a white paper by four Stanford Law School students and reported by the ABA Journal. The paper also shows little improvement to women attaining leadership roles at firms, reporting that only 5 percent of managing partners at large law firms are women. 

Long Sworn in as President at TBA Convention

Knoxville lawyer Jason H. Long became the Tennessee Bar Association's president June 17 when Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Lee administered the oath of office to him at the Lawyers Luncheon during the TBA's 135th annual convention in Nashville. Memphis lawyer

Lucian T. Pera is president-elect, Nashville lawyer Jason Pannu is vice president and Nashville lawyer William L. Harbison is immediate past president.

The convention was June 15-18 at the Sheraton Music City in Nashville.

The TBA’s new president is a partner with Lowe, Yeager & Brown and works primarily in the areas of professional malpractice defense and licensure issues, commercial litigation, general civil litigation, municipal zoning and adoption law. He joined the firm in 2014. Long previously worked at Sheppeard & Swanson PLLC and London & Amburn PC. He graduated in 1996 from the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Lee also administered the oath of office to members of the TBA Board of Governors. Members who retired from the Board of Governors are Dan Berexa, Justice Jeff Bivins, Jeff Harmon, Erin McArdle, Rachel Moses, Andy Roskind, Nathan Shelby, Gary Shockley and Jonathan Steen. Members named to new positions on the board during convention were Mason Wilson, Deborah Yeomans-Barton, Andy Roskind and Nathan Shelby.

AWARDS

Also at the luncheon, these awards were presented:

• The TBA Young Lawyers Division Fellows William M. Leech Public Service Award was given to U.S. District Judge Pamela Reeves by Judge Russ Parkes.
• The Justice Joseph Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing was given to Tennessee’s Solicitor General Andrée Sophia Blumstein for her article, deemed the best published in the Tennessee Bar Journal in 2015, “Summary Judgment Comes Full Circle: Tennessee Now Has its Own ‘Summary Judgment Trilogy’: Byrd, Hannan, Rye.”
• The Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award was given to the Hon. William Joseph Haynes Jr.
• One President's Award was given this year. It went to Gail Vaughn Ashworth for her work as chair of the TBA's Special Committee on the Evolving Legal Markets (ELM). The ELM committee began meeting in January 2016 to research and explore technology-driven changes in the legal marketplace and how they affect lawyers in Tennessee.

BENCH/BAR

The annual Bench Bar Luncheon featured Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., who also presented the Sandra Day O'Connor Award for the Advancement of Civics Education to Tennessee Chief Justice Sharon Lee on behalf of the Tennessee Supreme Court’s SCALES program.

Now celebrating its 20th year, the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students program takes the court into the community, allowing high school and college students to hear oral arguments on their own campuses and other locations throughout the state.

Earlier that day, moderators from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum led attendees through an interactive session, where participants looked at key decrees, legislative acts and case law to see the gradual process by which the Nazi leadership, with support or acquiescence from the majority of German people, including judges, moved the nation from a democracy to a dictatorship. Participants then discussed the role of the judiciary in society and its responsibilities today.

MEETINGS, CLE, EVENTS

The convention also included meetings of the House of Delegates, Board of Governors, Sections and Committees, Law School Alumni Breakfasts, a luncheon for “seasoned members of the bar,” and many hours of CLE.

Members of the TBA?Young Lawyers Division held their annual meeting, with Rachel Ralston Mancl of Kingsport becoming president. Memphis lawyer Ahsaki Baptist took office as president-elect.

Before the convention began, Chief Justice Lee and President Harbison, issued a proclamation making June 16 “Seersucker Day, which convention attendees took very seriously. Turnout in the comfortable cotton fabric was high that day and included one CLE devoted to it and its relationship with civility, given by Memphis lawyer Bill Haltom.

Also during convention, the TBA?Leadership Law class held its graduation, naming Jay Ingrum as recipient of the Larry D. Wilks Leadership Award. Ingrum is with the firm Phillips and Ingrum in Gallatin.

The Diversity Leadership Institute (DLI) held graduation ceremonies as well as a service project. The group worked at an expungement clinic held at a church in Madison with Judge Rachel Bell, helping clear people’s records.

The DLI students, seven YLD board members and TBA staff helped church staff and court personnel serve 150 people. Because of the high response, the clinic went several hours over the expected time. 

DEDICATED LAWYERS CHAIR TBA GROUPS

TBA committees and sections leadership for 2016-17 include:?

Committees

ABA Resource: Jonathan Cole
Access to Justice: John Farringer
Attorney Well-Being: Mary Griffin
CLE: Ian Hennessey
Ethics and Professional Responsibility: Brian S. Faughnan
Governmental Affairs: Meagan Frazier
Judicial Campaign Code of Conduct: Sam Elliott
Committee on the Judiciary: Matt Sweeney
Long-Range Planning: Jason Pannu
Public Education: Curtis Bowe
Committee on the Protection of the Public from the
Unauthorized Practice of Law: Kevin Balkwill
Tennessee Bar Journal Editorial Board: Andrée S. Blumstein
TBA Leadership Law: Hon. Brandon Gibson
Special Committee on the Evolving Legal Market: Gail Vaughn Ashworth

Sections

Administrative Law: Alex Fisher
Animal Law: Julie Bowling
Appellate Practice: Mary Wagner
Bankruptcy Law: David Fulton
Business Law: R. Christopher Trump
Communication Law: John P. Williams
Construction Law: Sean Hunt
Corporate Counsel: John Billings
Creditors Practice: Dudley A. Cheadle
Criminal Justice: Tommy Santel
Disability Law: Donna Simpson
Dispute Resolution: Linda Seely
Elder Law: Barbara McGinnis
Entertainment and Sports Law: Jeff Allen
Environmental Law: Willa Kalaidjian
Estate Planning and Probate: Jeff Carson
Family Law: Deb House
Federal Practice: Tom Castelli
General Solo and Small Firm Practitioners: Jim Romer
Health Care Law: Brian Roark
Immigration Law: Terry Olsen
Intellectual Property: John Winemiller
International Law: Samar Ali
Juvenile and Children’s Law: Stacie Odeneal
Labor and Employment Law: John Bode
Law Office Technology and Management: John (Danny) Richardson
LGBT: Regina Lambert
Litigation: Andy McCall
Local Government:?Shelly Wilson
Real Estate Law: Valerie Webb
Tax Law: Brad Sagraves
TBASCUS (TBA Seasoned Counselors Up To Something): Frank Grace
Tort and Insurance Practice: Kreis White