Madison County lawyer Marcus Allen Lipham was censured today by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court conditioned the censure on the payment of fees to the Board of Professional Responsibility. The court found that Lipham agreed to represent a client in pursuing claims against a homeowner’s association board but his fee agreement did not adequately specify the scope of representation. Lipham also failed to deposit the client’s unearned fee into his trust account. Later, he failed to timely investigate the merits of the claims, respond promptly to requests for information and notify the client that he was declining to file suit. Lipham entered a Conditional Guilty Plea admitting his conduct violated Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5(b) and 1.15.

Dyer County lawyer Charles Samuel Kelly Jr. was suspended from the practice of law today. Kelly was tried and convicted in the Criminal Circuit Court for Dyer County for felony theft, criminal conspiracy to commit theft, extortion and criminal conspiracy to commit extortion. The Tennessee Supreme Court also referred the matter to the Board of Professional Responsibility for a determination of final discipline.

Former Roane County lawyer Kent Lowery Booher was convicted in April 2021 of criminal conduct constituting a serious crime: two counts of coercion and enticement and one count of sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion; sexual exploitation of children; and penalties for registered sex offenders. Because Booher was disbarred in January 2015 (based on a conviction for statutory rape), the Tennessee Supreme Court found that immediate suspension was not necessary. It referred the case to the Board of Professional Responsibility for a determination of final discipline.

The Tennessee Supreme Court this week suspended 22 attorneys for failure to pay the annual registration fee; 11 of them also failed to file proof that client funds are held in an IOLTA-compliant account. View the July 20 fee suspension order and IOLTA suspension order. See the list of all lawyers suspended for fee and IOLTA violations in 2022 or access all administrative suspensions dating back to 2005.

Oregon attorney Kristin Hazelwood Huber was reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee on July 14, retroactive to June 27. Huber had been placed on inactive status on Dec. 3, 2014. The Board of Professional Responsibility found that Huber had met the requirements for reinstatement and her petition was satisfactory.

The Tennessee Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Responsibility today censured attorney Brette Baldini Healy. Healy was employed as an in-house attorney in Georgia for a seven-year period while her Tennessee law license was administratively suspended. During this time, Healy was not licensed in any other jurisdiction. Her actions violated Rule 5.5 regarding unauthorized practice of law. A public censure is a rebuke and warning to the attorney, but it does not affect the attorney’s ability to practice law.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today issued a public censure to Johnson County lawyer Harvey Randolph Fallin. The court reports that Fallin represented a man charged with first degree murder while also representing the man’s wife, who was charged with conspiracy to commit the same murder. Fallin did not have a written fee agreement with the clients, and did not discuss with them the potential conflict of interest in representing both of them. The court found there was a significant risk that Fallin’s representation of the wife would be materially limited by representation of the husband. In addition, Fallin asked his non-attorney daughter to act as the legal representative under a power of attorney for the two clients. In that capacity, the daughter made at least one payment to Fallin for legal expenses. At no time did Fallin discuss the arrangement with his daughter with his clients. The court found that these actions violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.7(c)(2), 1.8(a) and 8.4(d).

Davidson County lawyer Stephanie Derrick Gray was reinstated to the practice of law today by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Gray had been placed on disability inactive status by the court in June 2014. She filed a petition for reinstatement on June 1. The Board of Professional Responsibility noted that it had no objection to the reinstatement.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today issued a public censure to Rutherford County lawyer Jimmy Leo Richardson. The court reports that Richardson was hired to represent a client on a car accident matter. He sent a letter of representation to the insurance company and responded to a request for information from the company but thereafter took no action on the case. He failed to respond to four letters from the insurance company and multiple communications from his client. The court found that his actions violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.16, 1.3 and 1.4.

The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday transferred the law licenses of three lawyers to disability inactive status. Davidson County lawyer Bert Livingston Denton, Blount County lawyer Jacob Edward Erwin and Gibson County lawyer Troy Daniel Garrison may not practice law while on inactive status. They may return to the practice of law after demonstrating to the court that their disability has been removed.