TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 30, 2023

The Tennessee Supreme Court today affirmed a one-year suspension for Sevier County attorney James Ralph Hickman Jr., but increased the length of time to be spent on active suspension. The Board of Professional Responsibility (BPR) had recommended that Hickman serve at least 90 days on active suspension with the remainder on probation. It also imposed several conditions of probation, including that Hickman be under the supervision of a practice monitor and complete 15 additional hours of CLE in estate management. Finally, it required that any violation of the conditions result in automatic reversion to active suspension. The court changed the BPR’s recommendation in two ways: it increased the length of active suspension to six months and removed the requirement that a violation of probation automatically reverts his case to active suspension. Hickman’s conduct was determined to violate Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct 1.5(a), 3.3(a)(1) and RPC 8.4(c). Read more in a press release from court or the opinion.