TBA Member Carla Lovell has been added to the management committee of Nashville law firm Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison, the Nashville Post reports. Lovell has been with the firm since 1995 and was elevated to member in 2005. Her practice includes tax and estate planning, charitable planning and business succession. Firm member and former TBA President Bill Harbison calls Lovell a “critical member” of Sherrard Roe and says they “look forward to her leadership in this role.” Lovell is also a member of the TBA’s Estate Planning & Probate Section and the Tax Law Section.

TBA member and University of Tennessee College of Law alum Reggie Hill of Nashville has given a gift to his alma mater that will be used to fund a junior faculty position. The College of Law will offer the award annually and will designate the recipient as the John Reginald Hill Faculty Scholar. “The College of Law prepared me for a rewarding career, and I am fortunate to be able to give back through this gift,” Hill said. The award will be offered beginning in January. Hill served as a senior vice president and chief compliance and policy officer with Lifepoint Health prior to his retirement last year. He is a member of the TBA and its Health Law and Business sections.

TBA member and Husch Blackwell managing partner Michael Alston has been named an American Bar Foundation fellow, the Hamilton County Herald reports. ABF fellows are part of a global honorary society made up of attorneys, judges, law faculty and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities. Membership in the fellows is limited to 1% of lawyers licensed to practice in each jurisdiction. Alston handles complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts at Husch Blackwell. He is a certified mediator and a member of the TBA’s Corporate Counsel Section.  

TBA member Kristen Johns has accepted the position of chief legal officer with the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which manages digital streaming services licenses. According to the Nashville Post, Johns will oversee the company’s legal affairs, including its blanket licensing process and compliance work. Prior to MLC, Johns was a partner at Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis where she led the blockchain practice as a member of the firm’s intellectual property group. 

TBA member and Butler Snow attorney Andre B. Mathis has been selected as a member of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s 2021 Class of Fellows. The year-long program is designed to identify, train and advance the next generation of leaders in the legal profession. Mathis, a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation and Labor and Employment groups in Memphis, advises business and governmental entities on contract disputes, employment litigation, internal investigations, education law, transportation litigation, premises liability and financial services litigation. He is also active in the local community, serving on the board for Streets Ministries Inc. and the Downtown Porter Boys & Girls Club; on the alumni board for the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law; and as a coach of the law school’s Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Team. Read more about Mathis in this release from the firm.

The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority announced this week that TBA member Amber Floyd would be joining its team as general counsel. In that role, Floyd will be responsible for overseeing Airport Authority legal matters including litigation, legal advice, claims, leasing and contracts and risk management. Most recently, Floyd served as deputy city attorney for the City of Memphis. Prior to that posting, she was a senior associate at Memphis law firm Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs LLC where she worked for eight years. Floyd is also a member of the Memphis Bar Association, as well as Tennessee Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission. She is on the board of directors for the Ben F. Jones Chapter of the National Bar Association. Floyd is a member of the TBA Young Lawyers Division, Local Government Practice Section and chairs the TBA Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. She was a member of the TBA Leadership Law Class of 2016 and now serves on the steering committee of that program.

Conservatorships have been a trending topic recently due to the “Framing Britney Spears” documentary, which highlights the pop star’s conservatorship and the movement advocating for its end. However, as Director of the Metro Nashville Office of Conservatorship Management (OCM) Amy Bryant writes in an opinion published by the Tennessean, “Conservatorships in Davidson County do not play out the way they do in the movies.” In the article, Bryant breaks down how conservatorships are handled in Nashville, including the proof needed to establish them and the layer of oversight and protection that the OCM provides those who are subject to conservatorship. Bryant is the 5th District Governor on the TBA’s Board of Governors and the chair of the Public Education Committee. She’s a member of the Elder Law and Estate Planning & Probate sections and a member of the TBA Leadership Law Class of 2019.

TBA member and Miller & Martin partner Kyle Eiselstein has been appointed to serve on the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of Chattanooga, the Chattanoogan reports. Board Chair LaTonya Lyons said she looks forward to Eiselstein’s “engagement and assistance in guiding our objectives of building great futures for Chattanooga youth.” Eiselstein is the vice-chair of Miller & Martin’s Litigation Department and concentrates his practice in the area of civil litigation with an emphasis on complex commercial disputes. He is also a member of the TBA’s Litigation Section.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings attorney and TBA member Alé Dalton has been selected as a 2021 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Pathfinder. The LCLD Pathfinder program aims to increase diversity at the leadership levels of the nation’s law firms and corporate legal departments. As a Pathfinder, Dalton will connect with other high-potential attorneys for a year-long professional development series focused on leadership and relationship building. Dalton is part of Bradley’s Nashville office and her practice covers a wide range of transactional, operational and regulatory healthcare matters. She is a member of the TBA Young Lawyers Division and a TBA Health Law Section member.

TBA member and University of Tennessee College of Law alumna Brooklyn Sawyers Belk has been selected to serve as an advocate in residence and visiting professor at the school. In addition to teaching and mentoring students, Belk will also present a community-wide lecture. Her class, titled “Race and the United States Supreme Court,” will examine the high court’s decisions on race and racism and the court’s struggle with fundamental issues of racial bias, bigotry and inequality. Belk was previously an assistant U.S. attorney, in-house counsel and a former law firm partner. She is a member of the Federal Practice and Labor and Employment Sections, a committee member of the TBA’s Mentoring Program and a 2015 graduate of the TBA Leadership Law program. Read more on Belk’s new position on the College of Law’s website.