Over the last several days, the Tennessee Supreme Court has reinstated 13 lawyers who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2022. View the Aug. 25 order, the Aug. 28 order and Aug. 29 order or see the list of all those reinstated online.

The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday reinstated five lawyers and today reinstated three lawyers who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2022. View the Aug. 23 order, the Aug. 24 order or see the list of all those reinstated online.

The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday reinstated four lawyers who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2022. View the order or see the list of those reinstated online.

The Tennessee Supreme Court suspended Davidson County lawyer Newton S. Holiday III from the practice of law on Aug. 17 for two years, with six months to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation. The court conditioned reinstatement on payment of $9,500 in restitution, engagement of a practice monitor and payment of the disciplinary costs. The court found that Holiday failed to act with reasonable diligence; failed to communicate with a client or keep her informed of significant events and developments in her case; accepted representation pursuant to a contingent fee agreement that was not in writing; and secured the client’s acceptance of a settlement without advising the client of his conflict of interest. These actions were determined to violate Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4, 1.5(c), 1.8(h) and 8.4(a).

Four lawyers recently were reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee after being on inactive status. They are: Washington, D.C., lawyer Marc Scandlyn Brewen, Virginia lawyer Katherine Villane Johnson, Williamson County lawyer Erika D. Roberts and Alabama lawyer Amanda Kay Snipes. Read about their specific cases in the Tennessee Supreme Court orders linked above.

The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday reinstated 18 lawyers who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2022. View the order or see the list of those reinstated online.

The Supreme Court of Tennessee yesterday suspended 143 attorneys for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements in 2022. View the Aug. 17 order or see the full list online, which notes 23 attorneys who were reinstated today. Access all administrative suspension lists dating back to 2005.

The Tennessee Supreme Court dismissed a reinstatement petition filed by Blount County lawyer Charles David Deas on Aug. 8. Deas was suspended on Oct. 12, 2020, and remained suspended until the court transferred his law license to disability inactive status on March 18, 2022. The Board of Professional Responsibility opposed reinstatement. The court agreed, saying Deas failed to provide a factual or legal basis for reinstatement; that he failed to attach evidence demonstrating a change in his physical or mental health; and that he sought relief only from the temporary suspension, which was dissolved when he was transferred to disability inactive status.

The Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility issued two new ethics opinions last week. The first, 2023-F-169, addresses what steps lawyers should take when departing a law firm and what steps firms should take to protect clients. The second, 2023-F-170, addresses acceptance of credit card payments and the use of payment platforms such as Venmo. TBA CLE ethics speaker Brian Faughnan provides his take on the opinions in his blog Faughnan on Ethics.

Williamson County lawyer Tiffany Marcilynne Johns was censured by the Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday. The court found that Johns, while representing a client in an uncontested divorce, failed to send a draft marital dissolution agreement to the spouse for five months. After the agreement was executed, Johns appeared in court to enter the final decree, but she did not provide the court with the original decree. The final decree of divorce was not entered until June 2023. The court found that Johns failed to respond to requests for information from her client and determined that she violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3 and 1.4.