Meeting in the Mountains
127th Annual Convention Honors Members
The Tennessee Bar Association Annual Convention in Gatlinburg, June 11-14, featured an evening at the Aquarium of the Smokies, live bands, compelling speakers and 14 hours of continuing legal education available. George T. "Buck" Lewis was installed as the new president and members were honored for acheivements of the past year.

Awards and Honors
Immediate Past President Marcy Eason gave special recognition to members who provided especially distinguished service to the legal community. They are:

Andy Branham, for chairing the TBA Attorney Well-Being Task Force;

Nancy Vincent, for chairing the Racial & Ethnic Diversity Task Force. Honorary co-chairs were former Supreme Court Chief Justice A.A. Birch and former Attorney General Mike Cody. They were also honored for their "active participation on the task force. ... They were not just titled members," Eason said.

Lee Corbett, for chairing the TBA Real Estate Section Condominium Law Committee. His long work paid off with the passage of the Tennessee Condominium Act of 2008, which revised 1963's Horizontal Property Act.

Bill Young, for coming up with the idea to have the TBA Corporate Counsel Pro Bono Initiative Gala, an event that in two years has raised more than $120,000.

Sue Palmer, for her work as chair of the Working Group on Employment of Suspended, Disbarred and Disabled Lawyers.

Also at the Lawyers Luncheon, Bill Coley presented the TBA Young Lawyers Division Fellows William M. Leech Public Service Award to Frank F. Drowota III.

Knoxville attorney Nathan Rowell was honored for his 10 years of service to the Tennessee Bar Journal Editorial Board as he steps down. Kingsport lawyer Laura Steel takes his place on the board.

Knoxville lawyer Darsi Newman Sirknen was awarded the Justice Joseph Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing for her September 2007 article, "Tennessee's Investment Services Act: A Monumental Change in Tennessee Trust Law."

Senior counselors " members who are 75 years old or who have been practicing 50 years " were recognized. A list of all 92 of them and more pictures of convention may be seen at www.tba.org/convention2008/photos.html

During the Bench/Bar Luncheon, Chief Justice Mickey Barker received the Frank F. Drowota III Outstanding Judicial Service Award.

The TBA convention was held in conjunction with the Tennessee Judicial Conference, the Tennessee Association for Justice and the Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women. Special thanks were given to Justice Gary Wade and Judge Kelly Thomas for their efforts to bring attorneys and lawyers together for this event.