The Voice of the Profession

The Tennessee Bar Association counts more than 11,000 members and is the largest professional organization in the state of Tennessee. One of the key missions of the TBA is to serve as the voice of the profession in Tennessee. I am proud to report to you that the exercise of that voice has achieved an important accomplishment affecting all Tennesseans by ensuring that Tennessee judges are well-qualified, fair and impartial.   

Much has been said over the last few mon

Taylor’s Former Clerk Has Differing View of the Judge

I read with a sense of unfairness Donald Paine’s May book review, so filled with criticism of Judge Robert L. Taylor (May 2009 Tenn. Bar Journal). I have not read the book Remembering United States District Judge Robert L. Taylor, nor judging by the tone of the book review am I inclined to purchase it. Let me just say that my memory of Judge Taylor from my two-year judicial clerkship was not that of a judge who needed to be reminded of Can

Fourth woman to lead the association

Ashworth is new TBA president

Gail Vaughn Ashworth was to be sworn in as the new Tennessee Bar Association’s president on June 19. Other members of the executive committee are Sam Elliott, president-elect; Danny Van Horn, vice-president; Buck Lewis, immediate past president; Jason Pannu, secretary; and Richard Johnson, treasurer.

Ashworth is a partner with the Nashville law firm of Gideon & Wiseman PLC. She earned undergraduate and masters degrees at Tenness
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TJC Honors with Pro Bono Awards

The Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) has awarded its annual pro bono firm and attorney of the year awards. The Nashville office of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings was named “Pro Bono Firm of the Year” for its work representing needy families in TennCare appeals. Throughout 2008, 15 attorneys at the firm provided approximately 500 hours of pro bono legal services to TJC clients. Firmwide, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings attorneys provided a total of 4,252 hours of pro b...
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Reinstated

The following attorneys have been reinstated to the practice of law after complying with Supreme Court Rule 21, which requires mandatory continuing legal education:
William Noble Hulsey III, Austin, Texas
Tacey Clark Locke, Corinth, Miss.
James Douglas Mory, Louisville, Ky.
Amy Elizabeth Spencer, Reston, Va.

By order of the Supreme Court entered on May 11, Nashville lawyer William W. Leech was reinstated to the practice of law, conditioned on continued compliance through December 2012 with

Other Crimes as Contextual Background Evidence

For several decades I have read every opinion filed by our appellate courts. The most horrific is State v. Evangeline Combs and Joseph D. Combs (Tenn. Ct. Crim. App., Woodall, Sept. 25, 2002), perm. app. denied Jan. 27, 2003.
Esther Combs was taken at age five months by the defendants from a children’s home in Indiana under guise that she would be adopted; no adoption took place. Joseph Combs purported to be a “pastor.” Joseph and Evangeline roa

Banks in Crisis? This, Too, Shall Pass

Banker’s hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. except on Wednesdays when the weather is nice.
CD rates: Whatever the competitors are paying.
FDIC insurance: A legally required line item expense that we don’t really need.

Many of us recall when these were banking truisms. Except for that angst-filled period between 1983 and 1986 when Tennessee closed more than 30 banks, we have enjoyed relative calm in the banking industry. The infamous “Butcher bank crisis” involved

1L of a Ride: A Well-Traveled Professor’s Roadmap to Success in the First Year of Law School

Professor Paine’s review:

As many Journal readers know, I teach a Civil Procedure class to 1L’s at UT each spring semester. So I was curious to read University of Memphis professor Andrew McClurg’s book.

Chapter 9 on “Law Professors” is especially interesting. I agree with his observations that most full-time professors have had limited experience in law practice, making it unsurprising that the

The Organized Lawyer

Feeling organizationally challenged? Wishing those stacks of files and loose papers would magically disappear from your office — especially if a client happens to need to sit where the pile is currently stacked? Well, I’ve got good news and bad news for you.

The good news is that Kelly Lynn Anders’ new book, The Organized Lawyer, is a tool that may help those who tend towards the messy.

The bad news is that the clean up isn’t going to do itself no matter how many books

A Time to Blog

In August 2001, University of Tennessee Law professor Glenn Reynolds launched “Instapundit,” a Web site that provides frequently updated political and cultural news and commentary. It was one of the first “blogs,” and it literally changed the landscape of American politics, journalism and communications. By 2004, Instapundit was getting more than 100,000 visits each day, and Wired magazine proclaimed Professor Reynolds to be “the Blogfather,” even though he bears no res