The Tennessee Supreme Court has suspended Florida lawyer Joy T. Reid from the practice of law in Tennessee for 60 days. The court reports that Reid applied for comity admission to the Tennessee bar, but that during review of her application for admission, the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners discovered that she appeared to be holding herself out as a currently licensed Tennessee attorney. The Tennessee Board of Law Examiners conducted a show cause hearing during which Reid made misstatements of material fact. She agreed to a conditional guilty plea acknowledging her conduct violated Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct 5.5, 7.1 and 8.4(c).

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Feb. 28 issued an order suspending two Tennessee lawyers for failure to comply with CLE requirements. The order supplements an order from Aug. 17, 2023, suspending 143 Tennessee-licensed lawyers for failure to meet CLE requirements in 2022. See the full list of those suspended and reinstated, including one from the Feb. 28 order, who was reinstated last week.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on March 4 suspended 60 attorneys who did not pay the annual professional privilege tax as required. The attorneys include those living in Tennessee as well as 16 other states. View the order or see the list with reinstatements noted.

The Tennessee Supreme Court recently rejected the Board of Professional Responsibility’s recommendation for discipline in the case of Shelby County lawyer Larry E. Fitzgerald. The court said it had concerns that the proposed punishment, particularly the period of active suspension, was too lenient. It rejected Fitzgerald’s conditional guilty plea and referred the matter to the board for further proceedings. Fitzgerald had entered a conditional guilty plea on Oct. 18, 2023, in response to a petition for discipline filed on Dec. 12, 2022.

Fayette County lawyer Lundy Lee Carpenter was reinstated to the practice of law on March 1, effective as of Jan. 31. Carpenter had been placed on inactive status on March 9, 2017. The Board of Professional Responsibility reported that the petition for reinstatement was satisfactory.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Feb. 21 dismissed a petition from Williamson County lawyer Connie Lynn Reguli to dissolve a temporary suspension that had been imposed on Nov. 20, 2023, after the court found that Reguli posed a threat of substantial harm to the public. On Nov. 28, Reguli filed a petition seeking “immediate relief of reversal” of the suspension or, alternatively, an evidentiary hearing. On Nov. 30, the court granted the request for a hearing but dismissed the petition for reversal. On Jan. 23, Reguli filed a proposed order of voluntary nonsuit. The Board of Professional Responsibility objected to the proposed order and recommended the court dismiss the dissolution petition without prejudice. The court adopted the board’s recommendation.

Putnam County lawyer Michael Robert Giaimo received a censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court on Feb. 22. The court found that after Giaimo filed lawsuits on behalf of a client, he failed to communicate with the client for more than a year, inform the client that he moved to a different firm, properly serve process on a defendant and correct that mistake before the statute of limitations ran on the claim. His actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.16 and 3.2.

On March 4, Davidson County attorney Wesley Jesse Ladner III received a public censure from the Supreme Court of Tennessee and was ordered to pay the costs and fees of the Board of Professional Responsibility. The censure was conditioned on Ladner engaging a practice monitor for two years, contacting the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program and complying with any of its recommendations. Ladner represented a client in a contentious divorce matter. During the course of the domestic litigation, Ladner engaged in abuses of the discovery process, failed to diligently and timely respond to discovery requests, and made factual misstatements to the court and opposing counsel. Ladner executed a conditional guilty plea acknowledging his conduct violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 8.4(c) and (d).

Williamson County lawyer Melissa Ann Baker was reinstated to the active practice of law on Feb. 28 by the Tennessee Supreme Court, conditioned on continuing compliance with the terms and conditions imposed by the court on Feb. 6, 2023. Baker previously was suspended for three years with one year to be served on active suspension. Baker filed a petition for reinstatement on Jan. 12. The board found the petition was satisfactory and submitted an order of reinstatement to the court.

On Feb. 28, the Tennessee Supreme Court suspended Johnson County attorney Perry Lee Stout from the practice of law until further orders of the court pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, Section 22.3. Stout entered a plea of guilty and was adjudged guilty to one felony count of criminal conspiracy to possess Schedule VI-controlled substances and one felony count of money laundering in violation of Tenn. Code. Ann. §§ 39-17-417, 39-12-103 and 39-14-903.