TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Apr 17, 2023

The TBA Young Lawyers Division hosted a unique CLE on Friday, which involved attendees participating in a civil rights tour of Nashville followed by a discussion with former TBA President Bill Harbison and Nashville lawyer John Farringer, both with Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison. They worked on the Tennessee case that established the national right to same sex marriage. The walking tour started at the downtown federal building, where an ADA case led to installation of an elevator. The group moved on to Hume-Fogg High School to talk about education options during the civil rights era, then to the Woolworth Theater, former site of lunch counter sit-ins demanding equal treatment of Black customers, and the Hermitage Hotel, where suffragettes gathered in August 1920 for the Tennessee legislature’s consideration of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. Watch for details about civil rights walks coming to other Tennessee cities during the next bar year.

Group gathers at Sherrard & Roe law firm after civil rights walking tour in Nashville
CLE attendees gather at Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison law firm after a civil rights walking tour in Nashville
From left: Savannah Quintero, Simone Marshall Hayes, Princess Rogers, Billy Leslie, Angela Williams, Lindsay Oakes and Courtney Smith.

TBA YLD Board Member Lindsay Oakes talks at the U.S. Courthouse in Nashville Nashville lawyers Bill Harbison and John Farringer of Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison talk to the group following the walking tour

Left: TBA YLD Board Member Lindsay Oakes talks about an ADA case that led to installation of an elevator at the downtown federal building, formerly home to the U.S. District Court.

Right: Nashville lawyers Bill Harbison and John Farringer of Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison talk to the group following the walking tour. Sherrard Roe hosted the group for the conversation and reception.

Photos by Laura Labenberg