As I start this article, I can’t believe my year as president is almost over. I can genuinely say this has been an incredible year for me and as I was told, it flew by. For the TBA this has been a year of transition. I shared this year’s journey with our new Executive Director Sheree Wright and said happy retirement to Barry Kolar who did a great job of shepherding the organization through the change in leadership. In my final column, I want to highlight some of the programs and some of the people who made a difference in this bar year.

Jim Barry, left, and Andy Branham accept awards at the 2017 Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative Gala.

Among the highlights was of course the TBA Academy and the trip to Washington to move for admission to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court for a great group of Tennessee lawyers. If you haven’t done this, it was a wonderful experience with the added benefit of becoming friends with all the attorneys and their partners who went on the adventure. Seeing an argument in the Supreme Court provides an amazing insight into the interactions between the justices.

During the course of this past fall, I had the opportunity to present gavels to both Chief Justice Holly Kirby and Justice Dwight Tarwater. The time I got to spend with all the justices over this year has been wonderful.

A major focus of the TBA this past spring was in support for Chief Justice Kirby’s efforts to seek an increase in indigent representation funding. The TBA coordinated with the Supreme Court and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to press for necessary additional funding for the crisis in indigent representation funding. As part of this effort, I had the opportunity to testify before the Civil Justice Committee as a part of TBA Day on the Hill. Although the legislature did not fully fund the requested funding, they did include an increase in the budget to raise the hourly rate for the first time since 1997. The TBA will continue to support the Supreme Court’s and the AOCs’ efforts to secure additional funding in the coming year.

This year was the second time TBA sponsored a Day on the Hill. I encourage all members to take the time to participate in that event in the future and to attend the Big Shrimp Legislative Reception on the evening of the same day.

Although we only had the opportunity to have one meeting, the TBA Book Club had the author of Beale Street Dynasty, Preston Lauterbach, as a guest to lead us through this wonderful book. The author’s comments were fascinating and very informative.

In the access to justice (ATJ) arena, Rachel Moses headed up the initiative to help find temporary housing across the state for the pets of victims of domestic violence. Fifty percent of domestic violence victims will not leave their abuser if they must leave behind a pet, and most shelters won’t accept animals. See page 6 for an in-depth look at this work.

Kendra Mansur headed up the new subcommittee of the ATJ Committee looking into evictions and the effort to develop plain language forms for use in the landlord/tenant arena.

In 2007, my dear friend, the late Andy Branham, and I began the Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative (CCPBI) with the purpose of increasing the participation of corporate counsel in pro bono. Andy was a great champion of access to justice in addition to helping people with recovery issues. Last year, the CCPBI instituted the first Branham Grant, to honor Andy’s memory. In addition to his commitment to the ATJ community, Andy was also a champion of the addiction and recovery communities, and the Branham grant was established to benefit that community with legal assistance in the long-term recovery from addiction. Read more about the initial grant recipients, West Tennessee Legal Services and Aspell Recovery Center on page 28.

This spring, TBA leadership participated in the ABA’s Day on the Hill in Washington D.C. encouraging congressional funding for the Legal Services Corporation in meetings with our Tennessee congressmen and senators. TBA travels to Ireland this month to study the Irish culture and legal system. In late May, the Court Square CLE program will ramp up across the state featuring high quality educational opportunities in convenient locations.

In Memphis this June, I will pass the gavel to our President-elect, Ed Lanquist, bringing my year as president to a close. In closing, I want to thank the TBA staff for all the excellent work they do to make this association function at a very high level. The amount of work that went into making all the programs and benefits we enjoyed as TBA members this year possible is incredible and without the amazing efforts of our wonderful and talented staff none of this would be possible. |||

JIM BARRY is retired from his position as chief counsel for corporate litigation for the International Paper Company. In 2016 he was honored with the Janice M. Holder Award from the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services for his contributions in advancing the quality of justice statewide by ensuring the legal system is open and available to all. He is a co-founder of TBA’s Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative and a graduate of the University of Richmond School of Law.